Breath of Life
by Magery
Summary: ON HIATUS. The entire world knows his name and his face. His former friends think they know all of his lies and his masks. But they've forgotten the first rule of dealing with Lelouch vi Britannia... There's always another secret. And sometimes even he doesn't know all of them.
1. No Light, No Light

**Unfortunately**  
**I do not own Code Geass**  
**Sorry about that**

* * *

She watches him. Not that she has a choice; after all, she's bound hand and foot to the stark metal pole behind her, ramrod straight. He sits there, on his throne, gazing imperiously forward with those eyes, those violet eyes she could never resist. Even when they first met, his eyes captivated her, and they still did, even when he was leading her to her own execution... at his hands.

He never looked at her, never fixed her with that look, the one that took both her breath and any hope of conscious, rational thought away without so much as a by your leave. Why wouldn't he look at her? Was she really nothing to him, just a former means to an end? Then again, she should be thankful. As long as he shunned her, she could pretend she didn't love him still, pretend just that little bit longer. Maybe she could die pretending.

But in the back of her mind, in that little pocket of subconscious pondering no-one really paid any attention to, she notices that he never looked anywhere but straight ahead, amethyst eyes never wavering. And she wonders why.

The parade continues. The streets are lined with people, hundreds, thousands of people all watching him go past. Not a soul among them loved him. He was the Demon Emperor, the man who held the entire world hostage to his whims. Any one of them would have killed him, and all of them would worship his killer as a god. For it wouldn't be murder to kill Lelouch vi Britannia - oh no, it would be justice.

It's funny what you think of before you die, she thinks, as she notices what little security he has for a man surrounded by enemies. Why would that be strange? Nobody could challenge him anymore. He'd already taken care of that. He'd betrayed everyone and anyone he knew for that sort of power at least once. But she doesn't care about any of them. What hurts, what she had cried herself to sleep about every day of her incarceration, is that he'd betrayed her. Her! Of all the people in the world, he'd betrayed her. She should hate him, and a part of her did - hated him for being the one she loved, even now. Hated him for her inability to let him go. Hated him... for not loving her back.

The parade continues, and in that fragment of fractured thought that noticed everything, she adds the second irregularity, that odd lack of security for a man who seemingly valued his power and his life above everything else.

The parade stops. She turns her head, away from his too-beautiful, too-cruel face, wondering what could delay him from his task. And then her head whips back towards him, for in the distance stood Zero, masked man of miracles... and one of the alter egos of Lelouch vi Britannia. The very same Lelouch vi Britannia who sat almost indolently on his throne right in front of her. She wonders vaguely what the hell is going on, and can't quite quell the traitorous thoughts that hope nothing will happen to Lelouch.

Then Zero starts to move, and she knows it is not Lelouch under that mask, however much she hoped such an impossibility was true. Beside her, as her subconscious screams at her, the great General Todoh asks a question.

"Is that...?"

Before he can finish, she cuts across him, for she knows what the only answer can be. Who is Zero? Zero is not a man, he is an ideal. A belief. Zero is like being Japanese. And so she answers him.

"It's Zero. Zero."

But she knows the man who outruns Knightmares is not the real Zero, and so does Todoh. He is Suzaku Kururugi, the Demon Emperor's Knight of Zero... and he has been dead ever since that final, catastrophic battle for fate of the world.

And as he draws closer to Lelouch, too close to dodge the gunfire any longer, a voice shatters the staccato rhythm of bullets hitting empty air, and silence falls again.

"Stop! I will deal with this interloper myself!"

And with that, Jeremiah Gottwald, sometimes known as Orange, for that is the name of his loyalty, blurs towards Zero. Jeremiah was human once, but he is now a cyborg and no mere man can defeat him. But Zero is not merely a man, and so it should come to her as no surprise when he launches himself into the air, a foot pushing off Orange's shoulder, as if he is merely a path to his goal. And as Jeremiah falls to the ground, having failed his mistress for what could be the last time, she swears she can see him smile. And then it all clicks into place with a single thought.

'Is this what Suzaku and Lelouch had to do?'.

And as this Zero, this masked impostor, reaches the dais upon which the old Zero sits, the Demon finally, finally turns to look at her. He is smiling. And in that smile is everything she ever wanted... except a future. The sword pierces his heart, and she screams a howl of pure desolation, of soul-rending torment when she realizes she will never see those eyes, feel that smile, hear that voice or any of the thousand and one things that made him Lelouch... as she realizes the crushing depths of their respective betrayals.

She remembers half-heard words, things she dismissed as only what she wanted to hear. Wishful thinking, a mind corrupted by her love for a traitor. Snippets of conversation in hangers, on stairs, even in that brief, one-sided visit during her captivity, for she would not speak to him then, not ever again. But now she knows what he meant, when he'd told her "Kallen, I hope one day you'll understand why you never knew the truth.", before he'd turned and walked away.

She'd thought he was mocking her, since the only reason he hadn't said anything to her was because otherwise she'd have been able to stop him. It's only now she realizes just how right she was. Her mind shatters into a thousand 'what-ifs?', and she's not sure if it will ever repair itself. She hopes it doesn't, because at least this way she'll get some of the punishment she deserves.

As he falls, and as his queen's loss finally becomes apparent to her, a tear rolls down the cheek of a woman far, far away, for she knows the price he has to pay, and so she prays for him because no-one else will. She does not truly believe; after all, the closest she's ever come to Jesus has just been impaled on his very own sword. But no-one else will pray for the world's greatest hero, and so she must. And this, a certain golden-eyed, green-haired witch thinks, is a greater tragedy than any of Shakespeare's most famous works.

Her saviour topples to the ground, sliding past the flag of Britannia and coming to rest next to his sister, the very same sister he has had in chains since he seized her along with the rest of the world. He leaves a stain of blood that obscures this symbol of nationalism, and even as she screams, the captured queen wonders if this is intentional, wonders if he has planned even this.

His sister, his once blind, crippled sister gazes at him with her bright blue eyes. They well up with tears, for even though she knows he is a monster, he is her onii-sama and he cannot be dying. She takes his hand, and all at once her mind is overloaded by images, by flashes of insight. And then she realizes what he has done. He begins to speak, speak what will be his final words.

"I destroy worlds and create them..."

He trails off, almost out of strength. His face is a mask of peace. No, not a mask. He has worn so many of those in his life, but she can tell this is real. He is at peace. And with his final breath, he exhales one last word.

"...anew."

His sister screams, begs, pleads, but his eyes will not open again. It's almost as if his sight was traded for hers. Far above, held captive against her will, which screams at her to run to him, to hold him even though she knows he is gone and to touch her king one last time, Kallen can see the culmination of his journey. Even through her tears, she can see he has come full circle.

Everything began with his sister, and now his corpse lies beside her, the corpse that created the perfect world he'd always promised her. But his sister did not want a perfect world, not without him. He made her world perfect simply through existence, and now he'd sacrificed himself to create just another one of his lies. Because there could be no happiness, no true joy without him.

The Emperor's troops were retreating, running, doing everything they could to get away. Except for Orange. As the crowd called Zero's name, as he flourished the sword to flick the last few drops of blood like he was wiping away the tears that fell freely inside the mask, Lord Jeremiah did not run, for that was not the name of his loyalty. He returned to his master's side; the cyborg would not allow the unknown saviour's body to be defiled by those he had given his life to protect.

Finally, the queen was released from her captivity. No, captivity was the wrong word. She had not been removed from the board because she was too dangerous, no, she had been removed from the board because it was too dangerous for her. She'd noticed, towards the end, that whenever Lelouch played chess, even against himself, the queen had been sacrificed almost immediately. But after she was gone, each and every game had been a bloody, vicious affair, and too often the only pieces of note left were two knights and a king. She'd wondered why, back then, and the irrational part of her that craved his approval thought he was sending her a message. It was only now that she realized what that message was.

She runs to him, to the man she'd served with all her might, the man she'd thought she loved once, because to run to Lelouch could destroy everything he'd built to achieve. She ran to Zero, hating herself and hating him for making her choose between him and the world, even though she knew it was what he wanted.

Kallen would never be able to forgive Lelouch for leaving her, and she'd never be able to forgive Suzaku either. But she would always love him, and she would always serve Zero.

She watches his sister from the depths of her own despair, watches her very soul be torn into pieces by the actions of one man. Nunnally looks up, her azure gaze meeting Kallen's own sapphire blue.

There is no light in their bright blue eyes. For he is gone, and they no longer have any hope.

But in between his prisoners being freed, his substitute's never-ending adulation and the sheer misery of the two most important women in his life, nobody notices his fingers twitching slightly. Nobody except Lord Jeremiah Gottwald, the Knight of Orange.

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**Author's Note:**

First things first, if you've read this and haven't done so already, listen to 'No Light, No Light' by Florence + the Machine. It fits the theme of this story perfectly.

This was originally written as a one-shot to satisfy both my inner romantic and to give myself some hope that Lelouch could still be alive (tell me, if I told you that after I finished that episode for the first time, the second thing I did was direct my intellect into determining what ways Lelouch could still be alive within canon and analysing the last moments of the scene to try and find evidence that he did indeed survive, what would you think of me?).

However, I have actually written another two chapters beyond this point, and I'm in the process of planning an actual storyline that will hopefully be interesting.

So, why haven't I posted the extra chapters, I hear you ask? Well, I don't know if they're any good since I haven't had anyone but myself look at them; I'm not all too happy with them anyway.

So, what I want to know, dear reader (assuming you exist, of course, since I don't know if anyone has or will read this. I could just be talking to myself. Don't worry though, that happens a lot. I'd say it's quite normal, but it's me we're talking about. I associate with normal much the same way Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres does with Ron Weasley. Unwillingly, and I'm not quite sure why it exists) is, based on what you've read thus far, whether I should continue this or give up whilst I possess some small remaining fraction of credibility.

So, to anyone who will bother to review this story, please tell me if I write and post more chapters, or move on to something new. An explanation as to why you made your decision, no matter how small, would be greatly appreciated.

Anyway, that's about it from me for now. Except to tell you that the first thing I did after I finished Code Geass was be ashamed that I wasn't crying.

Until next time, if indeed there is a next time,

Magery


	2. Awake and Alive

**To me, Code Geass somewhat resembles a laptop. Why? Because I don't own either.**

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Shadows danced at the edge of his vision, slinking patches of blackness somehow differentiating themselves from the uniform darkness that seemed to be everywhere. There was no sound, only the silent roar of pain that rippled from the centre of his being, ever outwards. This confused him. He should be dead. There should be no more pain.

Then something else struck him. How could he be conscious of the absence of light? Dead men cannot see - he should not be able to recognize the darkness. More to the point, how could he be conscious at all?

It says much about his character that, even having asked a favour of God, he did not believe in an afterlife. Maybe it was because he knew the collective unconscious was exactly that - unconscious.

He noticed now a muted whispering in the background, an endless repetition of syllables that pricked constantly at his awareness, for he had now accepted the fact he was most probably awake... and thus alive. He tried to listen, tried to recognize both the words and the voice, but before he could concentrate, he slipped back into the pure nothingness that surrounded him, back into the absence of thought that was almost like death.

Lelouch awoke again. It seemed to him that some time had passed, but he could not tell. He had no connection with the outside world, nothing to tell him it even existed, only memories of whispers in the dark. All he had was his self-awareness, and all the questions surrounding it.

The whispering had gone away at some point during his second journey through the void, but now it returned once more, just beyond what he thought must be his hearing. It had to be hearing, for how else could he recognize sound?

He realized now that he must have eyes, for if he did not, how could he feel the sensation of light upon them? How could he sense what could be the slow dawning of the sun, the lazy retreat of the shadows that obscured his sight as they gave way before advancing rays, if he could not see?

So thus, Lelouch opened his eyes, an act made extraordinarily difficult by the searing pain that had been coursing through his body since he had first regained some semblance of life. He couldn't tell if it had lessened by now, and he didn't really care, for if he was still alive, then he had failed, and if he'd failed then he deserved the pain.

The first thing he saw was nothing, as his eyes adjusted to the fact they were once more required, but slowly his vision returned to him. The second thing he saw was an eye. This struck him as rather strange, until it reconciled itself into a single orange orb framed by blue hair and the face of a career soldier. Jeremiah stared down at him, a smile cutting through his haggard expression. Lelouch wondered why he was smiling, until he realized that out of all the people in the world, his knight's was perhaps one of the only lives he hadn't destroyed beyond repair. An unconscious smile dawned on his face to mirror Orange's.

Jeremiah helped him up off the cold, uncomfortable metal bench he'd been lying on. Lelouch stood up gingerly, relying on the assistance of his sole remaining knight to guide him to unsteady feet. He looked around slowly, taking in his surroundings in one long motion, savouring his first glimpse of his new life. The results were uninspiring, but not too surprising. Bare grey walls surrounded him on every side, with the sole decoration coming in the form of a thick, steel door. A very thick door.

It seems he was imprisoned. Good. That's what he deserved.

He heard a strange buzzing noise, and looking around in confusion before noticing that Jeremiah's lips were moving. It seems that apart from forgetting how to die, he'd forgotten how to hear as well. The sounds slowly pierced through the fog that surrounded his thoughts, and resolved themselves into a question.

"My lord, are you well?"

This time Lelouch meant to smile, and it was a harsh, bitter smile. Not the sort of smile Orange deserved, but the sort Lelouch deserved. His voice rasped out, hoarse and weary from disuse, making him sound even more the demon.

"Well, my dear Jeremiah? I'm the Demon Emperor. Did you expect a mere sword through the heart to do anything more than inconvenience me?"

Jeremiah's visible eye widened, but before he could say anything Lelouch cut across him, once again resuming the role that had made him the world's greatest enemy.

"Now, to you who hold me, you filthy, traitorous rebels. How long will it take for you to face me? Or will you be forever content to cower like the rats you are? I promise you; every second of my time you waste is another three you'll spend begging me to kill you."

Jeremiah realized what Lelouch was trying to do, and his face transformed itself into a sinister smile, a visual promise of his master's wrath. He'd have matched the smile with his blade, but sometime in between subduing him with Gefjun disturbers and placing him in a cell, the Black Knights had managed to reduce it to a mere stump.

Outwardly mirroring Jeremiah's expression, Lelouch sat back down on what should have been his final resting place, that metal bed it seemed he'd been on for years as opposed to days. Inwardly he was laughing, laughing at his own failure. Of all the plans to fail, it had to be this one, didn't it? He'd thought he could finally escape the curse of his existence, the never-ending spiral of lies and deceit that wrapped around his very soul, but it seemed that even _he_ didn't comprehend all of his secrets.

He didn't know how long he'd sat there, drowning in futile introspection and despair as he waited for something, anything to happen. It must have been a while, because by the time the voice of Todoh echoed through the hidden speakers Lelouch could barely move from the aching stiffness that seemed to be everywhere. Considering he'd been stabbed through the heart only a few days ago, he thought his body might have other things to worry about than simple soreness, but he couldn't complain. It made it much easier to maintain the illusion of the immortal, uncaring Demon Emperor if he didn't even bother to move or look around when being addressed.

He replayed what Todoh had already said in his mind, mentally catching himself up to what he was supposed to be responding to.

"Lelouch. It seems that your evil has even conquered death. Not that this really changes anything – all it does is give us all the more time to punish you as you deserve. However, even the most sadistic, psychopathic murders get their day in court, and so will you. But first, I think it's time you answered a few of our questions."

Lelouch smiled again; it seemed to him that Todoh couldn't have given him a better opportunity to ensure the Demon Emperor never saw the light of day for the rest of his existence.

"Punish me as I deserve? What I deserve is none of your concern, traitor. It's what you deserve that you should be worried about. You think to put me on trial? A secret, closed trial where the judge, the jury and every 'lawyer' will be a Black Knight? To think you once told me I make mockery of justice. And beyond that, dear Todoh, I do not recognize your authority. I recognize no authority but my own!

As for your questions, I will answer if and what I choose, as is my right as Emperor of the world. Sheep do not demand answers from a wolf. Sheep cower and hide and pray to their gods that the wolf is feeling merciful. I suggest you do the same."

No reply came for a while, as if Todoh had been expecting a different answer.

"I see death hasn't changed you, demon."

Lelouch laughed, a bitter, twisted sound that matched the tone of his thoughts if not his words.

"Did you sincerely expect it to? I bow to nothing, not even death. So, tell me, Todoh, how does it feel to know that no matter what you try, you will never defeat me? Does it hurt as much as the knowledge that even your greatest hero, who you know to be an impostor, failed in his task? Does it hurt as much as watching me here, talking to you when you know I should be dead?"

This time it was Todoh who laughed, and Lelouch thought to himself that it sounded strangely appreciative, as if the general had understood the irony and double meanings that littered the Emperor's speech.

"What I may or may not feel pales into insignificance when compared to that inflicted by your crimes, Lelouch. And even that fades into nothingness when compared to what your death, however much a lie that is, has saved the world. So I ask you, demon, how does it feel to know that your greatest weapon, the ability to lie, has been turned against you for the good of the world? You will never get out of here, and the world will never know the truth of your survival. And by that lie humanity will be united. Not under the dictatorial yoke of one man, but by the bonds of peace."

Lelouch's eyes widened slightly at Todoh's words – the man had, by intent or simple accident, stumbled directly on what the Zero Requiem aimed to accomplish. He could only hope that Todoh hadn't realized the truth, or pray that he was the only one who had, lest everything be ruined by his inability to die. Most men's greatest wishes might be to live forever, but as far as he was concerned, he was cursed. Perhaps this was the punishment that had been decided for his crimes. To have immortality and never be able to enjoy it. To have all the time in the world to contemplate his own failure to die.

But at the moment, he didn't have that time. First he needed to make sure that Todoh's impressive declarations rang true; to ensure that the Demon Emperor was imprisoned forevermore. To make sure peace would prevail. For if he didn't, not only would the world descend into the chaos of warfare once again when Zero was exposed as a fraud, but also all those who had died for his sins would have been sacrificed in vain. And as memories of shades of pink and orange swirled and mixed together with the remembered sounds of innocent laughter and the smell of blood, Lelouch swore to himself that they―that Shirley and Euphie―would never be forgotten.

He was wrenched from his reverie by the screeching of metal against metal and the thud of a body hitting the floor. He looked up to see the huge door of his cell opening, and Jeremiah collapsed against a wall nearby. Lelouch wondered why, before he noticed a muted green glow from within previously-hidden holes in the wall. So that was how they could allow him and Jeremiah a shared cell – Gefjun disturbers triggered by the movement of the door prevented his knight from attempting to escape, and as for Lelouch, they knew he'd never be able to overpower anyone, let alone a trained Black Knight.

And it seemed they were protecting themselves against his Geass as well, because when Todoh walked in to the room carrying a strange case, flanked by two guards, they were all wearing the visors Lelouch had given them long ago to hide their identities from the cameras. Lelouch began to laugh at the irony as the guards hustled the crippled Jeremiah out of his cell, binding him hand and foot with what looked like specially-designed industrial steel cables.

The Emperor didn't resist as Todoh shackled one of his hands to the corner of the steel bunk he'd been lying on and then blindfolded him. Resistance would serve no purpose, and besides, the Demon Emperor was always in control. Which meant he must always act as if everything was going according to plan; not that he had any trouble doing so, given that Todoh was doing exactly what Lelouch wanted him to – treating him as a still-dangerous enemy, and one who must be confined at all times.

"So, what brings you to my palace, Todoh? Perhaps you want to beg me for forgiveness, to beg for me to be merciful despite your severe lapses of loyalty. Or are you here to ask some of your questions? Whatever it is, be quick about it. My time is valuable to me – infinitely more valuable than your own pathetic life."

In response, Lelouch heard the clunk of a heavy object hitting the steel top of his bed, followed by a sound he knew very, very well – the sound of wooden chess pieces being set up on opposite sides of a board. He wondered why – perhaps Todoh thought that by making him concentrate on a game, he'd let slip some piece of information about C.C.

She could be the only reason why they had any questions for him; considering she'd managed to vanish without his knowledge the day of the Requiem, he very much doubted that the Black Knights had captured her. But if that was Todoh's plan, he was sadly mistaken. Lelouch had played Todoh once, back when he was Zero in truth - the man was good, as any general should be, but Lelouch had managed to beat him easily whilst planning his next assault in his head.

"Oh, do you want me to honour you with a game of chess? An interesting choice, I'll grant you, but if you're trying to placate my wrath, you're going the wrong way about it. I don't think I'd be satisfied by anything less than the heads of every traitor in this facility. Including your own."

Todoh's only reply was to inquire as to which side Lelouch wished to play.

"While I'm tempted by the irony of playing as black, the Emperor always plays as white. It's a family tradition."

With that, he turned to face the board. He heard Todoh rotating it and guessed that it had been set up with him playing as black rather than white. Good. He wanted to be unpredictable – after all, people were often more wary of those who were unpredictable, and Lelouch wanted nothing more than for them to be wary of him. Perhaps he'd have to make some form of escape attempt every so often, just to keep them on their toes.

Returning to the present, Lelouch reached out, suppressing a smile of satisfaction when he located the piece he wanted to move without having to touch another for reference and began to play. For a few minutes all he could hear were the clicks of pieces and Todoh calling out his moves for him to respond to, so it came to him as somewhat of a surprise that, whilst Lelouch was contemplating his next move, the general's voice broke the silence.

"I notice you've decided to use your queen rather than sacrifice her this time around, demon."

Then the door burst open.

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**Author's Note:**

A very special thank-you to theAsh0 for beta-reading this chapter (if you haven't already read and become addicted to at the very least Gambit, you're missing out. A lot. Seriously, go read it).

Before I say anything else, I must urge any of you who've read this to go and listen to Awake and Alive by Skillet. In this case, not so much because it fits the theme of this chapter perfectly (only somewhat), but because it's an awesome song.

Anyhoo, welcome back to Breath of Life, and its latest installment. Hopefully this chapter is up to the expectations those delightful people who took the time to review the first chapter seem to have of me. I was quite overwhelmed by the number of people who actually seem to like what I'm doing even though the story hasn't quite gone anywhere =D

I apologize for the lack of obvious action in this chapter; all I really have to say is that I believe it's necessary for the progression of the plot (when the plot begins in earnest, of course) =P

Now, who'd like to guess who, or what, is coming through that door? Could it be Cornelia, out for revenge? Or has Jeremiah's loyalty proved too much for any physical restraint? But what about Kallen, isn't she meant to feature heavily in this story? Or, could it be the last thing anyone would expect... THE SPANISH INQUISITION!?

Uh, anyway... that's about it from me for now, apart from asking you to review (Who knows, there might even be a cookie in it for you if you figure out who busts the door open! Yes, I'm trying to shamefully buy reviews with cookies) and stick around for the next chapter.

Until next time,

Magery

P.S in response to feedback I've been given (not only on this site but from friends in real life as well), I've removed all the lyrics from "No Light, No Light", and did some aesthetic editing to improve it slightly. There's no need to re-read it, nothing major has been done.

P.P.S did anyone notice last chapter's disclaimer was in Haiku, or is that form of poetry just too obscure for people who aren't weird like me?


	3. Broken

**Guess what? It turns out we don't actually need disclaimers on this site! Cool, huh? **

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It had been three days since he died. Three days since her heart had been broken, crushed and burned by the only man she'd ever loved. A few days since she realized that she'd never stop loving him, even for a moment. A few days filled with misery, tears and unpleasant dreams mixed through with undercurrents of pain. Kallen didn't know what to do; and so she did nothing – she was simply moving through existence (she called it existence because without him there could never be life), never looking forwards. Only back.

She could still remember the aftermath of that day; the day mankind's last great hope had fallen, slain by the coup de grace of his own design to bring peace to the world. A world that would never know its future was built on a lie. Because that was Lelouch's way – to lie and lie again until the truth became unnecessary, until that same truth became too dangerous to ever see the light of day. Kallen only wished that she'd known the truth earlier; that she'd been able to tell him the truth.

Her phone vibrated on her desk, moving around almost as if it was alive, bumping into the blood-red Guren key that served to remind her of exactly what she'd lost. Not the ability to fight, nor even the opportunity (the world might never know war again, but organized crime was another thing altogether), but the reason. She'd fought for Lelouch, even when she'd thought he was a monster – the only difference was that she'd been trying to save him from himself.

Kallen picked it up, idly glancing at the caller-ID. Suzaku's name flashed up at her, even though the number was Zero's. She refused to associate the two, and to hell with what anyone else thought, what they had to think. To her, there would only ever be one Zero.

She knew for a fact that Suzaku was masquerading as Zero now; she'd asked him herself, confronted him with Todoh and Nunnally, the first three to realize exactly what he and Lelouch had done. He'd confessed, of course. What else could he do, lie to his old mentor, his best friend's sister and an unacknowledged queen? Lelouch was the one who lied, he'd said to them before answering, because only Lelouch's lies could ever bring peace.

She answered, and was briefly instructed to come to the Black Knight's headquarters in the now-rebuilt Shinjuku ghetto. Apparently they had a 'situation'. Kallen snapped the phone shut and dropped it back on the table – she would not reply to Suzaku unless she had no other choice. They both knew where he stood in her eyes, just as they both knew she'd always be his most loyal servant. Lelouch had managed the impossible once again, it seemed – he'd managed to both cleave them together and apart simply through his memory.

Moving slowly around her room, Kallen readied herself for whatever important business it seems she was required for, finally slipping the phone into the pocket of her pilot's jumpsuit and the Guren's key around her neck. Maybe today she'd find a new reason to fight.

Kallen paused as she passed the photos that lined her wall, the photos that reminded her of her days at Ashford before she'd had to leave. Of course, she was planning to return there now that the war was finally over, not that it would be quite the same ever again. All her friends had moved on, except for Rivalz, but more importantly, _he_ wasn't there anymore.

It seemed to her that her life was fast becoming a memory; always trapped in the past. And like a memory, she could never get closer than the photo that took centre stage in her makeshift scrapbook, a picture of Lelouch in one of his few unguarded moments. He wore that black uniform like a prince; in hindsight, she wondered how she'd missed that. Maybe it was because if he was a prince, then he had to be her enemy. His eyes twinkled with hidden mischief as he smiled that smile of his, the one she didn't know how she'd ever resisted. It showed Lelouch as Lelouch, not as Lelouch Lamperouge, Lelouch vi Britannia, Zero or any of the other masks he'd worn in his time. It showed the man she loved.

She kissed her fingers and pressed them against him, a gesture she wished he could see, before leaving her house, pausing only to farewell her mother. As she walked to her destination, she noticed all the brand-new buildings around her, all supposedly built for the 'glory of the Emperor'. Everywhere she turned was something new, each built to weather the tests of time and each just another one of Lelouch's hidden gifts. She wondered if anyone else had thought how convenient it was that now he was dead, all these buildings could be used to house not their intended recipients, those loyal to the Demon, but for the far more deserving. She wondered if they truly were more deserving.

The house Suzaku had provided her was extremely close by the headquarters; she'd burst into tears when he'd told her it was a gift from the true Zero. Given its proximity, she'd decided to walk rather than use the expensive car Nunally had donated to her "for her services to the safety and security of the entire world". Who was she to be given such gifts? All she'd done was betray the man she loved, tried to kill him, and then done nothing to try and save him.

Some people might say she was being rather unfair to herself – after all, she was completely ignoring any responsibility Lelouch had for her actions, including the fact he'd deliberately imprisoned her so not only _couldn't_ she save him, but so she wouldn't even want to. But Kallen knew, in the deepest recesses of her mind, that if she'd tried hard enough, she could have—no, would have—saved him.

Arriving at the Black Knight's headquarters still lost in her reverie, Kallen ignored anyone and everyone on her way up to the main conference room. She had been planning on at least dropping in on Todoh; the two of them had been drawn closer despite their differences in both age and temperament by a shared knowledge of Lelouch's sacrifice, but even though her route took her right past his 'office', as she liked to call it, the general wasn't to be found anywhere.

Remembering that he was probably with Suzaku, given this 'situation' the Black Knights seemed to have, she quickened her step and moved through the seemingly-abandoned upper floors with greater urgency than before. She wondered what was happening, if the entire Black Knight command structure was required to discuss it.

She reached the door to the conference room, and just as she opened it, the one voice she'd never have expected to hear echoed out from inside – Lelouch's. Or rather, as perhaps the one section of her mind that wasn't in complete shutdown from the shock of hearing it, the voice of Lelouch vi Britannia, the Demon Emperor. She'd noticed his voice changed slightly when he became the Emperor, suddenly becoming far more arrogant and condescending than before, a feat that, had she been in the mood for humour, she would have said to be impossible.

Kallen stumbled through the door before she managed to right herself; she glanced wildly around the room, trying to see if anyone was just playing a recorded speech. Her eyes passed over Xingke, who it seemed had been pulled in for whatever was going on, Ohgi and Suzaku in his Zero costume before focusing on the television screen that dominated the other end of the chamber. The television that showed an image of Jeremiah helping Lelouch stand up from where it appeared he'd been lying for some time.

The television that showed an image of Lelouch. Alive.

Lelouch. _Alive._

By the time anyone else had had time to turn from the screen and hail her, Kallen was already gone.

She sprinted down the hallway, this time towards Zero's—now Suzaku's—private lift, the one that she'd ridden down so many times before. The one that led to the hanger, and more important, her Guren. Her flight-enabled Guren. The key slapped against the front of her pilot uniform as she ran.

She could hear someone running after her – probably whoever Suzaku sent to try and stop her. He'd have guessed what she was doing, of course, but she'd abandoned Lelouch once before. She was not going to do it again. Not this time.

The lift door opened the moment she tapped her code in, and she stepped through, placing her hand against the palm-sensor inside (considering the lift only went from the hangar to beside Zero's quarters and back, there wasn't a need for buttons). It started to move, whirring down the floors faster and faster yet still too slow for her liking. The grey box jerked to a halt what seemed like hours later, and the door opened and Kallen barrelled out, grazing her shoulder against the door in her haste.

Rakshata looked up from where she was working on what seemed to be a modified Lancelot (Kallen guessed it was for Suzaku, and wondered briefly what Earl Asplund thought of the Indian scientist being allowed to work on his precious Knightmare design) as Kallen blew past her, but by the time she could call out what seemed to be a mix between a greeting, an inquiry and a reminder to look after her baby, Kallen had already vaulted up to the Guren's cockpit and opened it.

She slammed it shut with one hand, already turning the key in the Knightmare's equivalent of an ignition switch with the other. The Guren came to life for the first time since the climactic battle for the Damocles, and Kallen extended the energy wings, a signal to Rakshata to open the hanger doors. Visibly sighing, the Indian scientist complied, just as Suzaku himself, or at least Suzaku as Zero, appeared from the lift and signaled for her to stop... but it was too late.

The enormous doors of the Knightmare bay slid open and the Guren, only visible as a blurring trail of red, flew out the doors before banking sharply to the right, towards the only prison Lelouch could be being held in. Kallen had recognized the chamber; it was the exact same design as the one he'd placed them all in only a few months ago, although she suspected it was probably a lot more secure and much further away from prying eyes than the 'exhibition cells' they'd been in.

The radio blared to life as the voice of Zero, or rather Suzaku speaking as Zero, came over the intercom.

"Kozuki-san, return to the headquarters immediately. We need to discuss what to do about Lelouch, not take reckless action without thought."

Kallen ignored him completely, totally fixated on her goal. In the back of her mind, she noticed Suzaku must have been re-listening to some of the real Zero's speeches, because what she'd just heard sounded a lot like something. Lelouch would say. Of course, if it had been Lelouch, he would have called her Q-1, and more importantly, she'd never have left, or been able to leave, in the first place.

His voice came over the receiver again, more insistent than before.

"Kozuki-san, you must return to base now. That is an order."

Kallen's only response was to shut off the Guren's communication systems. It thus came to her as a surprise when he started speaking to her again (she'd find out later that Lelouch had installed an extra radio that couldn't be tampered with by anyone on the Knightmare's end, just in case she was captured, or worse, ignoring him), this time far more intimately.

"Kallen, I know how much you want to go and see him, but you could ruin everything! What if the other Black Knights realize what's going on? What if they realize you love him – can you accept the possibility of being locked away for the rest of your natural lifetime? And how will your 'disappearance', for however long it is, be explained to the public? You know I can't exactly say something like 'Citizens of the world! Kallen Kozuki, Ace of the Black Knights, Red Lotus of Japan and sworn enemy of Lelouch vi Britannia is in love with him and has run away to be with him! Oh, did I forget to mention the fact he's _still alive_?'

You could ruin everything we worked for. Everything _he _worked for. So I'm begging you, come back to headquarters now!"

This time, she answered him, finally free to speak her mind over the private connection between her Guren and the man pretending to be Zero.

"I don't care, Suzaku. I will never abandon him again. No matter what the consequences are. No. Matter. What."

From that point on, Kallen ignored Suzaku, no matter how he pleaded with her, begged her to come back or flat-out ordered her to return or face the consequences. She laughed in his face when he tried the last option – they both knew he was getting desperate then, given he knew as well as her that she didn't care what happened to her as long as she had Lelouch.

He eventually gave up, and the rest of the journey passed in silence, except for the rapid beating of her heart as she grew increasingly nervous. What if he didn't love her in return? What if she'd just imagined that smile, and the look in his eyes when he'd finally turned to her, just before Suzaku killed him? What if this was just some fanciful dream her subconscious had cooked up for her? What if?

By the time she touched down in Britannia, landing directly in front of the prison (if the authorities had thought about trying to stop her, they must have decided that between her reputation and her personal friendship with their Empress-to-be to simply let sleeping dogs lie), Kallen was operating purely on autopilot, her mind fully taken over by a mixture of nerves and desperation.

Kallen threw herself out of the Guren and ran into the compound, straight towards the visitor's centre. Later she'd be surprised to find out that Britannia allowed their prisoners contact with the outside world, but right now she had other things on her mind.

She flashed her Black Knight badge – the badge that, thanks to Prince Regent Schneizel's latest decree, allowed her practically anywhere within the Empire. The move was no doubt ordered by Suzaku, considering it was one of the first steps of joining Britannia to the UFN proper. As such, the Black Knights became their official military – a military Kallen happened to be perhaps the second-highest ranked soldier in.

She demanded to know where they were keeping Lord Jeremiah Gottwald – the prison authorities didn't even bother to ask why, such was her intensity, and gave her directions to their most secure cells, located in the ominously-named Block Omega.

She took off, feet slapping against the concrete floor of the prison. She doubted Lelouch or Jeremiah were truly being held in the block, it was too obvious a location for such high-level prisoners, but it was her only lead and so she followed it. A few short minutes later, she arrived to find nothing except a few closed-off rooms and several imposing, black-visored guards, none of whom reacted to her presence.

Kallen had almost decided to turn back and look elsewhere when a man stepped out of a nearby cell, clad in the same uniform as the guards save for twin epaulettes signifying his rank as one of the prison's wardens. He moved straight towards her, helmet hissing open to reveal a plain, broad face.

"Ah, Lady Kozuki. I heard you wished to speak to Prisoner Gottwald. I'm surprised the Black Knights sent someone else as well, given that General Todoh is already here, but if you'd care to step right this way?"

She followed him as he turned around and led her back to the cell he'd just emerged from, thinking frantically all the while. What was Todoh doing with Lelouch? What were they talking about? Were the Black Knights watching? What was she supposed to do now? Kallen hadn't thought any further beyond wanting to see Lelouch; such things were not in her nature.

She was thus so engaged in her silent panic that she didn't even notice the cell was vacant until a loud crack shocked her back into reality. Over in one corner of the room, a section of the floor was sliding away to reveal a darkened stairwell, whilst in the other the warden straightened up, away from the bed.

A secret passage wasn't a feature she remembered being included on the plans of any prison she'd ever seen back in her terrorist days, but Kallen quickly realized that it would probably defeat the purpose of said passage if it appeared on official documentation. She followed the warden down the stairs, a series of running lights on the wall providing their only illumination. A few short minutes later, the warden pressed one hand against the solid stone slab that blocked their path, whilst rapidly keying in a sequence of numbers with the other.

The wall slid away, revealing a brightly-lit, stark white hallway that led past several imposing-looking metal doors, culminating in a final door that eerily resembled what Kallen remembered of the heavy plate armour on the Mordred's chest. However, of far more interest were the two guards dragging a body between them out of a cell. The prisoner was hooded, but there was no mistaking his metallic arm, even tightly bound behind him with what looked like heavy-duty steel cables. It was Jeremiah, which meant the room he'd just come out of contained… No, she couldn't just run to him, no matter how much she wanted to. For his sake, she needed to be careful.

"Warden, why is the prisoner being moved? I thought General Todoh was here to interrogate him."

"I apologize for not revealing this information earlier Lady Kozuki, but I have strict orders regarding even mentioning the existence of the other prisoner. You may not believe me, but it seems the Demon Emperor somehow survived his assassination, despite being run cleanly through the heart. He is in that cell, and he is the one General Todoh truly came to interrogate."

Heart thudding in her chest, so loud she was surprised the walls weren't shaking, Kallen walked towards the door, tossing her reply back over her shoulder and cracking her knuckles theatrically.

"Well, I'm sure Todoh is treating him too gently – that man has too much honour for proper interrogation techniques. By the way, I would greatly appreciate it if you could see your way to opening this cell and deactivating all surveillance in there until I return. I'm sure you can see why it's necessary."

She heard the warden acknowledge her orders, and as he marched away she drew herself up, steeling her mind (and more importantly her heart) for her first proper meeting with Lelouch since she'd betrayed him.

The door began to move inwards and, abandoning all sense of control and decorum, she threw it open and burst into the cell, just in time to hear Todoh's voice.

"I notice you've decided to use your queen rather than sacrifice her this time around, demon."

* * *

**Author's Note: **

Once again, I am extremely grateful to theAsh0 for beta-reading this chapter (Gambit. Go read it. Or else) - your assistance is greatly appreciated!

I urge all of you to go listen to Broken by Seether (featuring Amy Lee from Evanescence). To me, that song perfectly captures Kallen's thoughts after Lelouch dies, which is what this chapter is all about.

Now, welcome back to the third installment of Breath of Life! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed thus far, I'm still stunned that so many people could think I'm doing something good here – I certainly hope this latest chapter captures your interest as much as the other two seem to have done!

Now, I suspect some, if not all of you are wondering why this chapter only goes to the same point in the timeline as the last one. That's because this one is in fact the _second _half of Chapter 2 – Chapter 2 Part 2, if you will. The next chapter deals with Lelouch and Kallen's reunion, don't worry =P

Why did I split it? Simply because I feel it would have been too long and drawn-out to post the chapter as one, and I also liked the symmetry this gave me with the previous chapter, like two sides of the same coin.

I'd greatly appreciates reviews, of course, they help me see both what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong (hopefully there's lots of the former and not much of the latter, but we'll see =P). I would like to say that I have written the chapter after this, the reunion one, but it still requires editing (I try to hold my own work up to a ridiculous standard, and part of that standard is getting as many people as I can to read a chapter before it's posted. This, obviously, takes a few days to get done properly). I will post it as soon as I'm happy with it though =D

Until next time,

Magery

P.S obscure fact of the day – cleave is both defined as meaning 'to split or sever' and 'to join together'.


	4. Whispers in the Dark

**Alright, you primitive screwheads, listen up! You see this? This… is my _disclaimer_!**

* * *

Lelouch heard the door slam into the wall and for a second he wondered if Jeremiah had somehow managed to overcome his guards and decided to free his Emperor… against all of the unspoken orders he'd received.

The thought trailed off there as Lelouch realized the sheer absurdity of his knight, a walking embodiment of loyalty, disobeying even a single command. Then he heard Todoh's surprised gasp, and his mind shattered into a thousand splinters, a thousand individual memories that overwhelmed him all at once. For he was supposed to be dead, never to hear that name again.

Red hair glinting in reflected light as she walked away from him, towards the life he'd gladly tried to give his for. Blue eyes shining with unshed tears as he watched her turn away inside that cell, the cell that protected her from him. Pale skin glowing as he smiled at her, angelic features morphing into shock as Zero sacrificed a king to save not only pawns... but also a queen. The sound of her voice as it cried his name, filled with everything he'd ever wanted. The heady scent of her body as it crashed into his, knocking him to the ground. The delicate touch of her fingers on his face as she caressed his cheek, hands sliding behind his head to remove his blindfold.

No, wait, those weren't memories. She was here.

_Kallen._

The blindfold came off, and he gazed up into her eyes. Lelouch always wondered how something the colour of ice managed to be so fiery - it had taken until the day he died to realize that the hottest part of the flame was always blue. The comparison was only heightened by the crimson locks that framed her face, accentuating her beauty.

Seconds passed like hours as he lay there, transfixed by her stare, just as she seemed transfixed by his. A hand slowly stroked his face, impossibly soft, and he reached up, holding it against him. She seemed to jump when his fingers encircled hers, like she'd just been touched by a ghost. Kallen began to shake, and then she collapsed into him, dropping into his chest. It was only now, when the spell of her eyes had broken, that he realized she was crying.

He didn't care about what Todoh, what the Black Knights thought anymore. He didn't care what anyone thought. Why should he? She was here, and she was crying. So he held her, pressed her against him, embraced her like a dying man embraces hope. He couldn't let her go, not this time. He'd already sacrificed her once for the good of the world and at the cost of his soul; what reason did he have to do it again?

Lelouch whispered her name, caressing the syllables the way he'd always wanted to.

* * *

He whispered her name, and she shivered, his words bypassing her ears and making their way directly to her soul. She resonated to the sound of his voice, and wondered why she'd ever let him go. She'd left him once, twice, three times, each time coming back not to beg his forgiveness, but to destroy him. Until now, of course. She'd thought she was cursed, forced to love first a traitor, then a demon. It was only this time, on her third return to the side she could never truly leave, that she understood what he was. He was Lelouch, and that was all that mattered. He was here, holding her against his chest, and that was all that mattered. He was all that would ever matter, now and evermore.

The tears streamed down her face, soaking the white fabric of his restraining suit; it was only then she noticed it, only then she remembered about the blindfold. They dared restrain _him_? They dared imprison _him_? He hissed, and she jumped, almost breaking out of his embrace in her haste to see what had happened. She felt liquid warmth on the fingers of her right hand and looked up to where it lay on his cheek. Blood dripped slowly from five gashes on his face, the gashes her unconscious anger had rent in his flesh.

Her eyes widened in horror. She'd just hurt him. _Him_.

Kallen tore her gaze away from his wounds to look into his eyes, expecting to see the condemnation she deserved, the look that told her she was just another person who was going to hurt him, just like everyone else. In the midst of her anguish, she didn't notice the scratches sealing as she looked away. She didn't notice he never stopped holding her, not even when he'd cried out in pain.

If she had, perhaps she wouldn't have been as surprised when his eyes held nothing but joy at her presence, nothing but an intense warmth that drew an involuntary blush to her cheeks. Kallen lost herself in violet, and for a moment all was still, save for the soft rise and fall of their chests, perfectly in sync.

She leaned in hesitantly, bringing their faces closer and closer, still gazing deep into his eyes. His only response was to squeeze her tighter against his body; she could feel his heart thudding in his chest, just as she knew he could feel hers. Then she lost all sensation as their lips made contact.

The kiss was sweet, innocent and filled with the promise of life, like the first breath of spring. It slowly deepened, mimicking the passage of seasons, through spring and into the passionate heat of summer. In a corner of Kallen's mind, she realized that _this _was their first, true kiss, and it was everything she'd ever wanted.

Before, it had been between the Ace of the Black Knights and the Emperor of Britannia, two forces fundamentally opposed. Fire and ice. Before, it had been between the mask of Lelouch vi Britannia and the mask of Kallen Kozuki, two individuals who did not, could not truly know one another. Now it was simply between Lelouch and Kallen, two sides of the same coin. Two halves of the same whole; yin and yang.

The kiss stretched ever-onwards, regretfully brought to a close when Kallen finally remembered she had to breathe. She surfaced slowly as her mind adjusted to the sudden onset of reality; she could feel his heart drumming in time with hers, drumming the vibrant rhythm of life. She wondered why everything was so clear to her now, why every sensation was magnified a hundredfold, like she'd been living in a memory for the last few days only to step back in to the present. Then she realized why.

Before he'd 'died', she had a reason to live, a purpose. She had to protect him from the world, from his demons, from everything that sought to destroy him… including himself. Then he'd been slain by the avatar of justice he'd created, struck down by a sword that would always be his. Kallen wondered briefly if it was possible to be charged with aiding and abetting your own murder, the absurdity bringing an unconscious smile to her face.

She'd lost her purpose then, when he'd fallen. Kallen had thought a sword through the heart a bittersweet end to their relationship; the fatal blow had left a hole in her heart to mirror his. Her life had been taken along with his; it had only been a few days ago, but each moment afterwards had faded into the other, a blur she could only call existence, never life.

And now he was alive, and thus so was she. She had her purpose back, and she would never let him go again. She began to weep once more, this time from joy; the tears slid slowly down her face, each one splashing lightly on Lelouch's cheeks and mixing with his own.

Then the door burst open.

* * *

As Suzaku burst through the door, the first thing he noticed was that Lelouch, and Kallen, were nowhere to be seen. Only Todoh seemed to be in the room, and so he whirled to face him, already demanding to know their location. In the back of his mind, Suzaku knew this wasn't how the true Zero would act, but he was too panicked (he wondered if the true Zero had ever really panicked) to care.

The general laughed, pointing to the one part of the room Suzaku couldn't see from the doorway – the metal bunk in the middle had obscured his vision of what lay directly next to it. Calming himself, he walked towards the bed and peered over to see Kallen lying in Lelouch's arms, their gazes locked together, not acknowledging anything else but each other. He sighed in relief – Kallen hadn't somehow busted the former Emperor out of the prison, and it seemed dying hadn't made Lelouch into the vicious psychopath he was previously only pretending to be, since Kallen and Todoh were still alive and not visibly Geassed.

Come to think of it, Suzaku couldn't actually see the red wings of Geass that usually burned in Lelouch's eyes; considering Suzaku had removed the contacts after they'd captured Jeremiah (since he didn't expect Lelouch to survive), that was somewhat odd. And promising; if it turned out the fake demon didn't have what he once heard C.C. refer to as the 'power of the king', then Suzaku's life became much, much easier.

Not only would he not have to bother with all the blindfolds and the more elaborate security checks to contain Lelouch, but he could argue to the Black Knights that Lelouch was effectively powerless, and perhaps convince them to try and 'rehabilitate' him rather than leaving him to rot as seemed the general consensus at the meeting before he left.

_Speaking of that meeting, I'd better get the recording equipment turned back on before the Black Knights begin to worry,_ he thought, _after all, that's the official reason I'm here, isn't it?_

He was about to speak when a voice interrupted him; the voice of the man who'd managed to be his best friend, his most hated enemy and his emperor in a single, short lifetime. He'd only said one word, but that was all that was necessary.

"Zero."

Suzaku wondered if Lelouch was greeting him, or reminding him of whom he was supposed to be. Of whom Lelouch could never be, any more. He suspected it was both, and perhaps something else he didn't even pick up on; the man he'd once thought of as a brother was never anything but complex. Suzaku—no, Zero, for that was whom he must be now—turned to face the now-standing Lelouch, impassive mask hiding any expression on his face, and began to speak.

"Lelouch, Kallen ordered the warden to turn off all the surveillance equipment in this room, and I haven't countermanded that yet. You can drop the act now."

Lelouch's hands moved slightly – to anyone else it would have been meaningless, a man just shifting unconsciously, but Zero remembered the sign-language the former Emperor had invented and then shared with him when they were both ten.

_What are you doing? Unknown person here._

The basic phrasing might mark a stark difference to Lelouch's normal, polished eloquence, but their meaning was clear. The fake demon wanted to know, in more colloquial terms, what the hell Zero thought he was doing revealing such sensitive information. Zero thought he'd take a leaf out of Lelouch's book and answer him subtly.

He turned to the object of their discussion and addressed him by name.

"Todoh."

The general's eyebrow rose, perhaps in amusement at seeing the new Zero trying to emulate the original Zero, but he responded, emphasizing the only word he replied with.

"Suzaku."

Lelouch smiled, and for perhaps the first time in his life Zero thought it may have been a true smile. His right arm was wrapped around Kallen's waist; she was half-turned towards him, both arms clinging to his body like she was afraid he'd vanish at any moment. Zero didn't blame her, although it did strike him as amusing how vulnerable the greatest Knightmare devicer he'd ever fought was in matters of the heart. Not that he was one to talk, of course.

"Thank you, Suzaku."

Zero smiled beneath his mask; Lelouch's voice had lost the tiredness he'd had since he'd assumed the throne. It seemed dying had granted him a new lease on life, and quite frankly he thought it was deserved. As Suzaku, he might not have been so easy to forgive the man for killing Euphie, even though Lelouch had finally told him the tragic truth on the eve of the battle for the Damocles.

But as Zero? Zero had no choice but to forgive the man who'd brought justice to the entire world, who'd sacrificed (or intended to sacrifice) his life both for peace and to repent for his sins. The man who'd given everything, even his very soul, to save those who would curse his name forevermore.

His chain of thought was interrupted by Todoh's gruff voice as the general asked the obvious question, the question Zero himself wished to ask.

"So, what do we do now?"

* * *

As Todoh's question echoed in the silence, the silence it had caused, Lelouch began to think. He knew he should have started planning earlier, but as the reason for his distraction squeezed him closer, his annoyance died as quickly as it had begun.

So, what could they do? Only the people inside this room, apart from C.C and Jeremiah, knew or had discerned his plan, and so they were all he had to work with - after all, it was highly unlikely that anyone else had figured it out. Beyond that, nobody, and especially not them, (a few seconds later he amended that to none of them except Kallen) could help him overly much, or even be seen to be helping him if the illusion was to be maintained.

His mind whirled with possibilities, and although he dismissed most of them instantly, his thoughts slowly arranged themselves in the foundation of a plan. He'd have to manipulate… Todoh should probably interject here… Zero should stay reserved until… His own act should be kept up except for…

Kallen's voice broke through his mental contemplation; at her words, a smile dawned on his face. It seemed her passion would never fade, and he knew he'd never want it to.

"I know what I'm doing. I'm staying with Lelouch, no matter what."

Lelouch could sense the half-smile on Suzaku's face, behind his mask, even though his words wouldn't have matched it. As he answered, Lelouch noted Suzaku had been doing the research he'd been asked to do – he sounded more like Lelouch had as Zero than the last time they'd practiced.

"That much is obvious, Kozuki-san. However, this still leaves us with what to do both in relation to Lelouch's survival and the rest of the Black Knights. Does anyone else have any suggestions?"

Todoh turned towards Lelouch, but impressively, Suzaku did not. Rather, his gaze slowly rotated through everyone in the room, singling out no-one above anyone else. Kallen, of course, tilted her head to look up at him, hope mixed with a fire he recognized to be love in her eyes.

"I have more than a suggestion – I have a plan.. I'll explain quickly, before the Black Knights start wondering why Zero is taking so long to respond.

Firstly, the plan of attack, so to speak, is relatively simple. Todoh suggests that, based on my reactions to Kallen's sudden appearance, I may indeed still be human as opposed to an undying, uncaring monster, and that it's obvious I care for her deeply."

Lelouch punctuated his words by smiling down at Kallen, and his heart skipped a beat when she smiled in return, a full, radiant smile that took his breath away. He turned away from her regretfully, facing towards Todoh.

"You have also told Zero this, who has taken it into consideration. As Zero, and the rest of the Black Knights know I cannot be killed, you suggest that perhaps they should attempt to 'rehabilitate me', considering they have all the time in the world to attempt it. Zero will ask you why you think this will work, you remind him, as well as Kaguya and Xingke, what I once said about love, back in the Chinese Federation.

Knowing Kaguya, she'll be instantly in favour of an idea based on "true love can heal all wounds", and perhaps Xingke will be reminded that, even though I may be the Demon Emperor, without me he wouldn't have the Tianzi.

The main difficulty with this is that I suspect their fear and hatred of me is not because of what I am and what I could do, but because of what I was and what I have done. That will not be so easily forgiven. To clear this condition, we must convince them that, or at least insinuate that if they had not betrayed me and taken everything I loved away, there would have been no Demon Emperor.

Oh, and we'll also need Jeremiah, I have a feeling he may be useful to the cause. Moving on from there…"

Nobody noticed the slight red tinge around Lelouch's eyes when he mentioned Jeremiah.

* * *

Kallen listened as her king laid out his plans; all the while she wondered why they needed Orange. It didn't make sense, considering the Black Knights knew nothing about him bar that he was extremely loyal to his master, but more importantly, Lelouch had never followed his instinct before. That just wasn't who he was, so why was he requesting Jeremiah's presence simply on feeling? Unless there was some part of the plan he didn't want to tell anyone about, or...

She was shaken from her thoughts when he asked her a question, albeit the warm, loving tone he asked it in probably helped as well.

"Kallen, you look distracted. Is anything wrong?"

It took her a while to answer - not because she was fumbling around for something to say, but because she'd looked up at him just in time to catch the warmth that burned in them as he said her name. Kallen wondered if she'd ever be able to look at him without getting distracted; she suspected the answer to that question was probably no. Lelouch stared back at her, smiling slightly until Todoh coughed meaningfully.

"Oh, uh, I was just wondering why you hadn't given me any instructions like Todoh and Suzaku" she said, flustered enough about how easily he distracted her that she'd forgotten her original train of thought.

"I didn't need to - I trust you to do whatever you feel is right."

He trusted her? _Her_?

What seemed like hours later Kallen thought she heard Suzaku whisper something to Todoh.

"That kiss has been going on for a while. Perhaps we'd better fetch Jeremiah."

If Kallen had been in any state to notice what was going on anywhere but in Lelouch's arms, she would have seen Todoh nod and Suzaku tap a button on his mask to bring up the communications link with the warden and speak into it briefly. A few minutes later, she would have seen Jeremiah being escorted back into the cell then look up to see the two of them and smile.

Lelouch must have noticed something, because he slowly broke away; Kallen could see the regret in his eyes. She started blushing when she saw everyone was looking at the two of them, but Lelouch seemed to completely ignore it, instead turning his head towards Suzaku.

"I presume everything is ready now?"

Suzaku nodded and moved his hand towards his mask, pressing what seemed to be a button somewhere on the side (the very same button Kallen was too distracted to notice earlier). She heard something click, then the masked imposter spoke, conversing with the prison's warden.

"Warden, could you please reactive all the surveillance systems? Yes, I've already taken care of that - my mask has its own communication set. If you can patch this link through to the microphone/speaker set in this cell, we'll be able to talk in perfect security. Thank you, that will be all."

Kallen heard a soft electrical whine as the countless security systems turned back on, and mentally steeled herself for what was to come.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

For those of you wondering about the state of my already-fragile sanity after reading the disclaimer, it's an adapted quote from HPMOR, which in itself adapted the quote from Army of Darkness. Hey, just because I said last chapter they're not necessary doesn't mean I'm not going to pander to my own desire to try and be funny =P

Once again, many thanks to theAsh0 for beta-reading this chapter – your services are invaluable to the success of this operation (is it weird that I've always wanted a chance to say that?). And to those of you who haven't read Gambit yet, well, I have four words to say to you. Poor form, poor form.

Now, everyone go and listen to Whispers in the Dark by Skillet – this time because it fits KallenxLelouch perfectly, especially for post-R2 fanfictions =D

Anyway, welcome back to Breath of Life (how many times have I said this already?), and I hope you enjoy the reunion chapter! Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last one, it's people like you that make me want to keep writing =D

And I assure you, I haven't copped out on Kallen slapping Lelouch around for abandoning her or something, since it is within her character. It's just not within her character to do the first time she's reunited with him, in my opinion – I think she'd be too busy being overjoyed that he's still alive =P

So, on to the real question… how will Lelouch stay in-character as the Demon Emperor whilst still showing obvious affection for Kallen and not making anyone even the slightest bit suspicious of his plan? After all, he tried to kill her (officially) and he was appearing to be taking her to her execution – not really the most romantic of gestures, eh? I promise you I'm not actually asking for ideas, I already know how that's all going to work out =P

And there's the even bigger question... why is Lelouch acting purely on a 'hunch'? I'd give someone a bowtie (bowties are cool!) if they guessed why, but I'd be too busy wondering if they could read minds instead.

Don't forget to review - I need all the help I can get to try and make sure each successive chapter is better than the one before =P

Until next time,

Magery

P.S Whispers in the Dark just finished playing on my iPod as I stopped writing this author's note (bar this postscript, obviously =P). Fitting, huh?


	5. Sweet Sacrifice

**Life, much like this disclaimer, is inherently meaningless. Why? Because I don't own Code Geass.**

* * *

She watches them, watching him with all of their anger, loathing and fear plainly evident. She watches him watching them; she knows they won't ever be able to, but she can see the vulnerability he hides behind arrogance, the heart he hides behind an icy mask. They see him as a demon, and in a way it's true; every warlock has a little demon in them, after all. But he's not the demon they think he is, and he never will be. She only hopes that maybe one day he'll produce the one miracle he's never been able to – the truth. And they will see.

They're yelling now, but they're not yelling at him. They're yelling at _her_. Not the witch observing them, but the queen beside him. The witch suppresses a flash of jealously – he made his choice, and she has to live with it. For his sake. So still she watches, waiting for the sign he'll give her without knowing… the sign to attack. She wonders if they'll ever know she was watching, but she doubts it – it's their equipment she's 'borrowing', after all. They seem to have forgotten her warlock once owned all of it, but she's not complaining.

His queen isn't backing down, not this time. No, you might blow out a candle with hot air, but it will only ever fuel a fire. Words fly, tongues of flame lashing out to burn her enemies where they stand, for she won't leave him, not ever again. They can't believe what she's saying – they think she's fallen under the warlock's spell. She has, but not in the way they think, and so the black queen advances full of rage and the pawns retreat.

The witch can see why he chose her now, even as the revelation constricts the heart she thought she'd lost forever. His queen is everything he is not, a captivating blaze that flickers and dances; she entrances the eyes with vibrant displays of passion, of colour, of life. His witch is too much like him, too much like winter, too much like ice. Too much like snow.

She's resigned herself to her fate now, resigned herself to being no more than his advisor. She'd taken pride in calling herself his accomplice, but now she knows that's all she'll ever be. She doesn't even know if he can fulfil her contract any more, now that he's taken everything his father gave him. Perhaps she should find a new contractor, but it won't be the same, not any more. Then she remembers his plan. Oh, she does have a new contractor already. The irony curls her lip in amusement.

She returns to watching them, watching her, watching _him_.

* * *

The first thing Lelouch heard, as the surveillance equipment whirred to life, was silence. Not the sort of silence that indicated the presence of nothing, but a silence that made it all the more obvious what wasn't being said. The sort of silence that extends through the seconds, stretching ever-outwards until it finally… snaps.

Ohgi's voice shattered the quiet, an impassioned plea full of despair, rage and what could be the feeling of betrayal.

"Kallen! What are you doing? Get away from him!"

Even though he was expecting it, the command still sent shivers down his spine. What if she moved? What if she obeyed, betrayed him once again… no, he can't think like that. He has to trust her, and he does. Kallen didn't move - she didn't even acknowledge Ohgi's voice, instead, she only hugged him tighter. Lelouch smiled, but it wasn't the smile of victory that all his former (and current) friends had learned to distrust. It was the smile he reserved only for her, the smile that conveyed everything he can't say.

Ohgi's voice echoed out again, this time full of all the command he can muster, intertwined with undercurrents of true fear and righteous anger.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

This time she acknowledged the voice, acknowledged him with one word and a gesture. Kallen looked up from where her face pressed against the former Emperor's chest, and spoke, tone flat and yet subtly dangerous, like a cat stretching before the hunt.

"No."

Lelouch hugged her back and smiled; this time it was the Demon's smile, not Lelouch's. He wasn't smiling at her, of course, not with a smile like that. He was smiling at them, a visual promise that he hoped drove the reality home. Kallen was his, and he was hers. Nobody would come between them, not anymore. Not ever. Silence fell. Oghi appeared to have no answer, but Lelouch didn't expect him to. To have an answer he would have to have believed such a situation was possible, and in his eyes, someone caring about the Demon ranked up there with absurdities like the Earth being flat. So thus, Lelouch knew Ohgi wouldn't be the next one to speak, not this time. He suspected it would be…

"You've used your… power on her, haven't you, you monster? How dare you! You'll be wishing you could die by the time I'm finished with you, demon!"

Chiba's voice, rippling with the harmonies and counter-harmonies of vengeance, anger, disgust and fear burst through the silence in a verbal barrage of condemnation. Lelouch smiled, this time a predator's smile. The tiger's bared teeth just before it pounces. He spoke a single word, tone mocking.

"When?"

For the third time, silence fell, until Lelouch began to speak once more.

"When could I have turned her? You know for an empirical fact that I couldn't have Geassed Kallen to serve me before you betrayed me, my little pawns. That much is obvious, since she (and the rest of you) actually did betray me. I guess that never occurred to you; not that I'm surprised, considering how easily I crushed you."

At this, Kallen cringed slightly, and Lelouch smiled gently, completely at odds with his previous behaviour. It seemed Kallen still blamed herself for that. He lifted a hand to her face and turned her head slightly to face his as the Black Knights watched on in stunned silence; behind his mask, Zero was smiling. Lelouch spoke softly, tone gentle and filled with a warmth he recognized to be love.

"Oh, Kallen, you know that wasn't your fault; do you think I blame you for the actions of others? You have to live, remember?"

Kallen's eyes teared up slightly at his last remark - the former Emperor guessed she must be remembering that fateful day, the day that started him on the path to demonhood. He dropped his hand from her face, trailing it slowly down her shoulder until it rested against her waist and drew her closer, whispering quietly so that nobody else would hear him but her.

"I'm sorry for reminding you."

He lifted his gaze from her face somewhat regretfully and assumed the mask he'd let briefly drop, just for her.

"And tell me, did Kallen's attitude change once whilst she was imprisoned? No, it didn't.

So, let me see... since then, the only opportunity I could have had to Geass Kallen was whilst at least one of Todoh or Zero were in this room with me. I mean, I knew you and your ilk were never very loyal, but turning on your dear general as well as your 'saviour' already? Even _I_ didn't predict that one."

The former Emperor wished he could have seen Chiba's reaction, but his pleasant imaginings were cut off by the sound of Xingke's voice; the other great general seemed to be musing out loud.

"Interesting. By his logic, none of the rest of us could have been cursed to obey him, or follow him, and he had ample opportunity to do so..."

Whatever the Chinese soldier was about to say was cut off by an impassioned outburst from Kallen.

"Exactly! So why didn't you think of that, I don't know, when you betrayed and attempted to kill him? Instead, you trusted the word of Prince Schneizel, whom you seemed so quick to believe despite his own relation to the Emperor and his history of manipulating others, and look where that got you and the whole damn world!

Lelouch could have stolen your will at any time after he captured you, but he didn't. So perhaps you should ask yourselves a question… Would you have preferred to serve the Demon Emperor until you were finally cast away and killed, or would you have preferred to die with your hearts and minds your own?"

He smiled - Kallen was performing beautifully, a queen in truth as well as name. Not that he'd ever thought of her as anything else. All was quiet as the Black Knights digested her words; he could sense the tensions they created, sense the impact the inconvenient truths had on them. The seconds stretched onward before finally someone finally spoke up. Lelouch turned slightly, towards Suzaku as the latter's mechanically distorted voice rippled outwards with the quiet aura of command the former Emperor spent many long hours instilling in him.

"Enough. What has happened, has happened, and there is no need to wonder 'what if?'. Regardless of the cause, you, Lelouch vi Britannia, are a vicious, sadistic war criminal. This is not a trial, not in the way the law regards it. This is a sentencing hearing; I and my Knights are to decide on your punishment, not to listen to your 'defence'. I am only here in person because General Todoh believes there is something I need to see for myself."

"And what might that be, oh mighty Zero?" Lelouch asked sardonically, although he knew full well what that something was.

"That you're still capable of human emotion. You obviously have feelings for the Major, and somehow, although it's beyond me as to why, she returns those feelings."

"With all due respect, Zero, what on earth does that have to do with anything? We're here to decide his sentence, not talk about his twisted manipulation of Kallen's emotions." Chiba's voice cut in, but was quickly drowned out by Kallen; she was fire incarnate, all scorching heat and lashing tongues of flame.

"My heart is my own, Chiba, and at least I have the courage to act on it!"

Tamaki spoke quietly, but his words were easily audible through the communication system.

"Ooh, burn!"

Lelouch couldn't help but laugh; he'd forgotten how good Tamaki was for comic relief, even though most of the time all he did was get in the way.

* * *

As Lelouch's laughter echoed around the room, Zero was reminded of the times he'd spent with Lelouch as a young child, back when they'd been young and carefree (well, relatively carefree, and he wasn't sure if Lelouch was ever really young). It was good to see him happy again, even if he'd had to die to recapture those feelings. However, at the moment he had more pressing matters to deal with, albeit they equally involved his childhood friend's happiness. As well as the future security of the world, of course. He started to speak; Lelouch's chuckles died down and sounds of Chiba hitting Tamaki faded away as well.

"Enough. Chiba, you will not insult Captain Kozuki. She is still a member of the Black Knights and leader of my personal guard, and as such outranks you - I hope I do not need to remind you that penalties do exist for insubordination. Equally, Kallen, please refrain from insulting your fellow Black Knights; unless you've resigned in the past few minutes, you are still under my authority and I will not tolerate such behaviour."

Kallen blanched, and Zero caught the involuntary turn of her head towards Lelouch, as if seeking his approval. Not that it surprised him, she'd made it abundantly clear who her true Zero was. Lelouch must have seen it as well, because he whispered something to her. She nodded, and turned back to face the masked man, mouth already framing her next words.

"Apologies, Zero-sama."

Chiba's voice repeated the same phrase only a few seconds later.

Zero sighed slightly; while everything was still going according to Lelouch's plan, he really didn't want there to be constant fighting between Kallen and the rest of the Black Knights - especially not with the depth of hatred they had for her king. Lelouch must have had the same idea, because his hands were shifting slightly, as if he was brushing some imaginary lint off his jacket. Of course, that's not what he was actually doing.

_Move me out with girl. Leave orange. _

If Zero had been any other man, he would have laughed at the stark difference between the former Emperor's usual, silky eloquence and the simple phrasings of their secret language, but he could not afford to be amused by such trivial things. Not while he was working, at any rate. He nodded his head almost imperceptibly, and started to speak, the whole exchange having taken only a few seconds. At the mention of Jeremiah's name, soft, red rings flashed around Lelouch's eyes - something which Zero remained inexplicably unaware of.

"Kallen, please escort the prisoner to a different cell."

This time, Kallen's glance towards Lelouch was far more obvious, so much so that Zero heard Chiba snort. Which meant that he had to say something about it - a leader cannot show favouritism towards his men (and he didn't really want to find out what Lelouch, or worse, Kallen, would do to him if he tried treating her as the former Zero had).

"Captain Kozuki, while the Demon may hold your heart in his thrall, you might wish to remember that I hold the rest of you. As such, you are still my subordinate and you will obey my commands, not his."

Kallen's eyes narrowed, but before she could say anything else Zero resumed speaking.

"As you appear to be in no fit state to partake in these discussions, I think that perhaps you should remain with the prisoner to... guard him once you have escorted him away. That will be all."

Zero could see Kallen schooling her face to stillness, but her eyes betrayed her. She was smiling inside, and he could see the approval in Lelouch's eyes - perhaps because he would be able to talk to Kallen privately, or because Zero had framed a gift like an abrupt, almost harsh dismissal to disguise his true, altruistic intentions.

The effect was somewhat ruined by the fact that Kallen's escorting of the fake demon involved walking next to him, holding his hand. They walked out together, the door opening as Zero instructed the warden to make another cell available. It slammed shut behind them, the sound echoing throughout the cell. The reverberations died away, and for the first time since the surveillance systems were turned back on, Xingke began to speak.

* * *

"What are we going to do about the Demon Emperor? We can't execute him, considering he'll just come back to life, and even if we keep him contained in here, one day something will happen, some outside event we cannot control, and he will escape. He has all the time in the world, after all."

The Chinese general's words weighed down the silence they had created, creating an almost funeral-esque atmosphere. On the outside, his body betrayed nothing, but inside Jeremiah was smiling slightly - his lord and master's plan was coming along splendidly. The first act had already ended, with the exit stage right of the two main actors signifying the beginning of the second; now the performance rested in the hands of Suzaku and Todoh. Lelouch's loyal knight wondered how long it would be before he was chosen to deliver his own soliloquy, the recital that would bring about both the end of the second act and the start of the next.

"He might be immortal, but we know he can feel pain. I for one am in favour of the suggestion we just torture him as punishment for all the crimes he's committed; a fitting penance for his sins, don't you think?"

Almost the moment Minami finished speaking, Zero began, his tone clearly one of reproach.

"We will not descend to his level, Minami. We are champions of justice, and there is no justice in torturing one man for years on end, no matter how much they deserve it, for that is merely vengeance. However, beyond that, you've also forgotten two other important facts. How do you think Captain Kozuki will react to that... suggestion? And, when Lelouch eventually breaks his confinement, what do you think he will do to us, assuming he escapes within our lifetimes, or worse, our families? I highly doubt you wish to find out the answer to either of those questions."

"Why are you so convinced that he will somehow escape this containment, Lord Zero?" Kaguya asked sweetly - it seemed to Jeremiah her crush was on Zero as the figure, not on whoever was currently him at the time.

"Yeah, how can he? This prison can hold anything!" said Tamaki, echoing the unspoken sentiments behind the young girl's words.

"We are attempting to hold prisoner one of the most dangerous, cunning and intelligent men to ever live. He also happens to be immortal, and thus has all the time in the world to plan his escape. Beyond this, eventually the structure and materials that make up this prison will eventually age and fail, whereas the Demon will not."

"We seem to have some difficulty here then, Zero. We cannot kill him, and I suspect what you're implying is that attempting to imprison him is equally futile in the long run. However, we certainly cannot release him, nor allow news of his survival to reach the outside world. But before we hear the suggestion you no doubt have, perhaps Gottwald should be removed from the room. I must admit I am a little confused as to why he has been permitted to stay, when he can easily report everything we say to his master."

Xingke's commanding voice rang out, and the knight was reminded of exactly why Lelouch had regarded him as such a useful ally and dangerous enemy. The man had seen through everything Suzaku was trying to do, and had also failed to miss Jeremiah's presence, despite the uproar surrounding his emperor and Kallen, something which no other Black Knight appeared to have managed. Jeremiah hoped the former Knight of Zero had a good answer.

"He is here because I desire him to be here. To say any more would be to reveal information which should not be revealed, not yet."

Jeremiah wondered if Suzaku had gone crazy - he highly doubted Xingke, or any of the Black Knights, would accept such a Lelouch-esque answer (a part of him also wondered exactly how and when Suzaku had become so similar to the original Zero. If he didn't know any better, he'd have thought he'd been Geassed). Before he could ponder any more, his hearing (one of the perks of becoming a cyborg was enhanced senses, something that Jeremiah greatly approved of) picked up a muffled whisper coming from Suzaku's mask, as if it was being dampened by some system within.

"You are correct, Xingke, every word we say in here will be reported back to Lelouch. But there is no weapon in this world that cannot be twisted back on its wielder; such is the essence of strategy, is it not?"

The noise died away, and then Suzaku's mechanical voice replaced the soft, almost non-existent whisper that preceded it.

"Perhaps now we should move on to the plan. General Todoh?"

"Thank you, Zero."

Todoh cleared his throat, and for a second Jeremiah thought the battle-hardened general looked... nervous.

"I feel the only possible recourse we have is to, well, redeem the Demon Emperor before it's too late."

The room exploded into frenzied noise all at once; the only recognizable sounds were the hundred-fold repetitions of "Are you insane?", or words to that effect.  
It eventually died down; however, the former Emperor's knight wondered if this was because they'd actually managed to shout themselves hoarse. Todoh took advantage of the momentary silence and started to speak once more.

"I assure you I have not gone crazy. We cannot kill Lelouch, and we know that one day, he will escape... unless we can somehow convince him he doesn't need to. Do not doubt for a second that I wish to see him punished for his crimes along with the rest of you, but the cold, hard truth is that we _cannot_ punish him - he's immortal! He will always have more time than we will, and anything we do to him will heal. Our hand has been forced - the only way we can contain Lelouch is by somehow making him contain _himself_.

I have no doubt you noticed the drastic differences in Lelouch's behaviour between how he treated us and how he treated Kallen. I also have no doubt the majority of you assumed it was an act; I can personally assure you that it was not. I was here when the surveillance equipment was turned off. I was here when Kallen burst through the door, and I am telling you now that even Lelouch cannot act that well. He truly is in love with her, and she with him. I don't know how, or why; it's beyond my comprehension.

Which brings us to the crux of the plan. Lelouch may be a cold-hearted monster, but Kallen is not. She is _everything_ he is not, and that we can use against him."

Whatever Todoh was about to say was cut off by Kaguya; Jeremiah could hear the laughter in her voice - she sounded every bit the young girl she often pretended to be.

"General Todoh, are you suggesting that we try and turn Lelouch vi Britannia into a good man through the power of true love? How ridiculously romantic!"

It was Zero who answered, and his tone was completely serious.

"In essence? Yes. After all, was it not Lelouch himself who once spoke of the power of the heart? And while I am loath to admit it, Kallen raised a valid point earlier. Lelouch could have easily stolen your will and made you into his slaves, a move that would have made perfect tactical sense considering that he almost defeated Britannia with your assistance - imagine the havoc he could have wreaked with not only Schneizel as his thrall, but someone like you, Xingke, or Todoh or any of the rest of us. It would have been a far more public symbol of his power to enslave you rather than execute you, but instead he chose to allow you to die as free men and women, with your hearts and minds as your own.

You cannot deny that it made no logical sense to kill you rather than using his Geass upon you - I suspect this was his way of showing respect to valiant opponents, and perhaps as a last measure of friendship, given that from despite the many valid reasons you had, in his eyes you betrayed him on the word of someone equally as untrustworthy as he.

Moving on, we believe that Kallen can bring out Lelouch's human side, and through that human side we can make him see the good of peace. No, we _must_ make him see the good of peace, because otherwise the Demon Emperor will be resurrected, even if it is far into the future, and that we cannot allow. I am aware that the plan may sound rather... ill thought out, but trust me when I say this, it is our only hope."

Nobody said anything for a while; the silence spoke volumes of how much impact those words, and especially Suzaku's blunt assessment of their chances had actually had on the Black Knights. As it lengthened, Jeremiah wondered if perhaps he would not be required to close out this second act – perhaps the third would begin under its own steam. Then Ohgi, who had not spoken for quite some time, voiced the very words the loyal knight had been instructed to prepare for only a few short weeks again. It seemed he would have to take centre stage after all.

"I feel we're forgetting something here, Zero. While I abhor the very thought of such a foul and despicable man, if he can even be called a man, having a fate that did not involve death, or immense pain and suffering…"

Jeremiah started to laugh bitterly; he wondered if Ohgi would ever know exactly how much suffering and pain Lelouch had already endured, or how the deaths of those he loved haunted him still, and would haunt him until the end of time. They decried his master as a demon, but when you slowly carve away all the attachments a man has to the world, when you inflict blow and vicious blow to his very humanity, Jeremiah could not see how you would be left with anything else _but_ a demon. And yet Lelouch had sacrificed himself to redeem the world, something no demon would—could—ever do.

The loyal knight realized he had been ruminating long enough to have almost missed what Ohgi had said when he continued to speak.

"I can see the logic behind your proposition, although I wish I could not. But you've missed something extremely important!

Your plan hinges on the fact that Lelouch cares for Kallen, but you've forgotten Kallen was with us – she was destined to die that day as well! How can he be in love with her if he was perfectly happy to imprison her for months on end, and then execute her? I highly doubt that comes under any definition of love., especially given it was easily within his power to let her live. Hell, if she isn't actually Geassed, he could have used it to bring her to his side!

I'm not accusing you of lying, General Todoh, but this is the Demon Emperor we're talking about, a creature of deception and manipulation – I don't think any feat of acting is beyond him."

The Black Knights jumped on the Prime Minister's words like they were some physical manifestation of hope – Jeremiah knew that none of them could ever be happy with Lelouch's plan, and although they couldn't deny the plain truth that it was their only hope, they'd latch on any flaw anyone found with it and never let it go.

Although he couldn't see through the mask, Jeremiah suspected that Suzaku's expression was one of shock, perhaps tinged with a slight element of fear – after all, the instructions he would have received wouldn't, couldn't have accounted for an objection like that. Neither would Todoh's, although the general's long experience of maintain a calm demeanour stood him in good stead – he didn't react except for a slight widening of the eyes.

Strangely, the one Black Knight who didn't seem to be joining in with all the questioning and restated versions of Ohgi's objection was Xingke – Jeremiah didn't hear his voice once, and hadn't ever since he'd questions Lelouch's knight's presence. But that was an issue for another time, because right now the true plan required his intervention.

"Yeah! How come Kallen was going to die with the rest of us? Bet you—"

Jeremiah cut across Tamaki, his tone slashing through the objection.

"She wasn't."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

I would like to thank theAsh0 for beta-reading this chapter, especially since it's a little over 4,500 words =P I think it'd be great if everyone could perhaps return the favour by going to read Gambit and From Within – they're most definitely worth it.

Of course, this Author's Note wouldn't be complete without me telling you to go listen to the song this chapter title is derived from, so without further ado, I humbly request that you go listen to Sweet Sacrifice by Evanescence; it may not seem like it at first glance, but it really does fit some of the themes in this chapter.

And speaking of music, I have not listened to a song that wasn't The Clockmaker by Vexare in the last... 32 hours. Yeah, I've been looping it a lot.

Now, welcome back to Breath of Life! I apologize for the delay in updating, it's somewhat because of a spontaneous (i.e procrastination is awesome) increase in assignments and work at school. I hope you enjoy this chapter – I know it's not the most action-packed thing you've ever read, but trust me, it's just as important as any other for furthering the plot. Thanks for all the reviews last chapter!

And now on to the interesting stuff… what do you think Jeremiah is going to say next? Is he going to reveal the Requiem? And it seems C.C. has finally entered the story – so what signal is she waiting for, and more importantly… what will she do when she gets it?

I'll stop asking you questions now; after all, if I ask too many, _all _the clues in this chapter relating to future events might be revealed!

Oh, and it'd be great if you could review this chapter, like I said before I need all the help I can get =P

Until next time,

Magery

P.S I almost forgot, but I wrote a short one-shot titled Extinguished, and it'd be great if people could read and review that, I'm trying to expand my writing abilities and that's the first time I'm tried to write something like that. Thanks!


	6. Hero

**Right, disclaimers! Disclaimers, eh? Disclaimers disclaimers disclaimers disclaimers disclaimers disclaimers. Disclaimers! Hope you're getting all this down!**

**Also, the philosophical views held by characters in Breath of Life do not necessarily correspond with those of the author's. Unless they sound pithy.**

* * *

Li Xingke was many things. Warrior. Leader. Loyal son of China. But right now? Right now, Li Xingke was confused. Although, he thought, he had been confused for quite a while, ever since the day the Demon died. It just hadn't been at the forefront of his mind…until now, that is. All those half-formed thoughts, all the unanswered questions he'd tried to forget because the answers frightened him – they were all coming back to him now, triggered by two words from a traitor. If he really was a traitor. If he'd ever been a traitor.

Why had the execution parade been so lightly guarded? He'd thought it was because of the Demon's arrogance, but he wasn't so sure, any more. There were just too many coincidences for it not have been deliberate.

Enough guards to look impressive and dissuade Cornelia's forces from attacking, but not enough to stop one man?

A fearsome warrior, augmented beyond human capabilities and fiercely loyal to his liege, simply allowing that same man, the same former mask of his master, past him without even really attempting to stop him?

Those same forces simply retreating rather than trying to kill their master's murderer? That same knight not even trying to take revenge, not even once?

It made no sense.

Beyond this, he didn't accept the answer Todoh had provided for another one of his questions. Lelouch vi Britannia had made it clear he didn't care for anyone. His own _sister_, the sister he'd apparently fought for, had been cast away and displayed like a trophy. There hadn't even been a funeral for the Suzaku Kururugi, the Knight of Zero.

And yet, apparently he'd decided to show mercy to the people who'd betrayed him and execute them, rather than stripping them of their very will and strengthening his empire and his rule a hundredfold in one fell swoop. An act completely out of character with anything anyone would expect of the Demon Emperor.

It made no sense.

Then Kallen Kozuki-Stadtfeld, the Red Lotus of Japan, a woman utterly loyal to Zero and thus a woman utterly betrayed by Lelouch vi Britannia, a woman who had every reason to inflict seven types of hell on him… When he'd heard she was both at the prison and all the surveillance equipment had suddenly died on them, the last thing Xingke had expected to see when they turned back on was her standing arm in arm with him. Of course, now that he thought about it, she did seem unusually distraught about his death. But why would she be distraught? He'd heard from the others that she'd loved him, once, but after so many betrayals?

It made no _sense_.

And now Jeremiah Gottwald, the man who'd reminded him of all the questions surrounding the Emperor's death had started speaking again, in response to a series of frenzied questions. Xingke listened half-heartedly, his mind still deep in contemplation.

"Kallen wasn't going to die with the rest of you. Surely some of you must have wondered why there was so little security on the Emperor's float, am I correct? Surely some of you must have wondered why a band of rebel forces led by the Witch of Britannia, no matter how small, was allowed to come so close to the parade. Especially armed."

Xingke's mind latched on to his last statement. Now, that was _another_ unresolved question. How come the Demon had allowed such a band, perfectly placed to take advantage of any hiccup in the parade should one ever occur, to come so close to him? It was mere seconds after his death that they'd rushed out – rushed out of a building that happened to be right in line with where the float was stopped for good. It was like the masked man had planned it – but there was no way this Zero could have known they were there. The only person, bar the rebels themselves, who could have known they were there… was Lelouch.

Gottwald had continued whilst the general's mind had been occupied with his ponderings, but he quickly brought himself up to speed and replayed the conversation in his head.

"It's almost as if the all the conditions for a successful rescue mission had been met – poor security, allies in close proximity, and of course the so-called Demon Emperor would never expect such a blatant challenge to his rule. After all, he's the man who ruled the world through fear, who could atomize anyone who opposed him… along with the nearest fifty million people.

Or, at least, that's what Emperor Lelouch said to me. It seems this fake Zero had much the same idea."

All around him, he could hear slight gasps; see faces twisting into expressions of disbelief before being tightly controlled. His mind whirred, processing the information Gottwald had given him and comparing it to his own, unfinished conclusions. And he realized something very, very strange. They didn't contradict one another; in fact, they were almost identical. Too identical.

Taking the interpretation they'd been offered, it seemed Lelouch had designed it such that someone under his control could rescue Kallen, and use Cornelia's very own forces to his own advantage – the very thing the Demon would do. Of course, it didn't quite make sense that Lelouch would go to such lengths rather than just releasing her, but then Xingke metaphorically stopped dead in his tracks. If you took what Gottwald said to be true, then the Demon Emperor cared about Kallen, and if that truth was known, her life would have been ruined – not only could she have been used against him, but it would have been equally possible that someone could try and kill her as some form of revenge (unlikely, but not impossible).

However, if you took another interpretation, a ridiculous, impossible interpretation that had nonetheless occurred to him, what Gottwald was saying now would make the perfect cover story in the event that any of the Black Knights ever got around to asking the exact same questions Xingke had been. And it contained just enough truths and half-truths such that it would satisfy almost anyone.

Not only that, but who would look closely at the death of the Demon Emperor closely? He was dead, killed by the man of miracles, the man who had conjured something from nothing so often it was in his job description. Nobody bar the highest echelons of the Black Knights and the UFN knew that Zero had been Lelouch vi Britannia, and they had more important things to worry about than his death… like his survival. So between the story Gottwald had woven and vi Britannia's survival, who would be questioning all the little anomalies that surrounded the death of the Demon?

The picture was slowly becoming clear to him, the wraith that was Lelouch slowly becoming outlined in the fog, framed by the shroud of lies he wore like armour. Xingke realized he'd been right all along – the answers to those questions frightened him indeed. Because they meant that the very man they'd cursed as a demon was the very man who bore that curse willingly, for the sake of the world. The world that had betrayed him, and taken everything he'd ever loved away.

Li Xingke was many things. Soldier. General. Loyal servant of the Tianzi. But right now? Right now, Li Xingke knew that, once again, he'd been played for a fool. Although, he realized, he'd been played for a fool for quite a while now, ever since the day the Demon died. No, it was beyond that – it had been ever since Lelouch had donned yet another mask, one less blatant than that of Zero but equally effective. That of Lelouch vi Britannia, the Devil incarnate and supreme ruler of the world.

A normal man might not be so accepting, but Xingke was first and foremost a man forged in the crucible of war. He understood the need for sacrifice, knew how hard it was to send off men, knowing they would die for the greater good, for victory. All Lelouch had truly done was fight a war against war… and won. He'd turned all his strategic brilliance against the very arena it shined the brightest, using the greatest weapon of war in human history to end them once and for all. And what had he done for his coup de grâce? He'd taken the wounded creature that was the Britannia of his father and slain it with a single thrust to the heart.

He'd used the legacy of two faces to ensure the legacy of the faceless would live on forever. Xingke had never known Lelouch Lamperouge personally, but he suspected he'd been sacrificed so Lelouch vi Britannia could rise in his stead. And then Lelouch vi Britannia had died so Zero could live. It wasn't like the rebirth of the phoenix, for peace had already been forged in fire and blood; it was like… a game of chess. The king had been removed from the board by himself, and now there wasn't anyone else left to fight. No, it was beyond that – there wasn't any _reason_ to fight.

And now, Xingke understood. But there was one more thing he needed to do, for beyond anything else, he would always serve the Tianzi. He turned back to the conversation, away from the twisted trains of thought that had led him to this course, and silenced the rest of the Black Knights as they scrambled to find a flaw, or lie, in Jeremiah's story.

"Zero."

The man turned to him, the Knight of Justice (in a subconscious corner of his mind, Xingke wondered exactly why he'd thought of him like that), and answered.

"Yes, General Xingke?"

"Before I make my decision, I need to talk to my Empress. I promise to you that I will reveal nothing which has transpired here, nor share with her any of my personal conclusions or deductions as to the former Emperor's survival. I simply require advice on a personal matter, one which directly relates to our current situation. It is advice I believe only she can give me. By your leave?"

Zero nodded, and Xingke turned, leaving both the room and the now-confused Black Knights. He returned to his own office, a few floors down, and after setting up the communication line, pressed the button that would begin the link; he couldn't shake the slight sense of nervousness that struck him every time he talked to her, the unconscious need for her approval. And in this, the need for her approval was the only reason he was contacting her. The screen flashed to life, the Tianzi's smiling face the first thing that greeted him.

"Xingke!"

"Empress," he said, bowing his head as he spoke, "I have something I need you to help me with."

He could see the slight furrowing of her brows as she tried to figure out what it could be - he wished her luck with that, because even he didn't quite understand it and he'd seen Lelouch's living, breathing body with his own eyes. He continued, adopting a serious tone to convey his intentions.

"I met a man, once, who in the same day stole and saved something very dear to me. Then he gave it back to me, when he could have easily given it to someone else. So for this, among other reasons, I followed him to war. But this man was a liar, and when I found out the depths of his lies, I cast him out. I would have killed him, but he was saved by another.

When I next saw him, he stole it once more, and I fought him for it. But he won, and so he stole me as well. I thought I had lost myself, and all that was dear to me... only for one of his greatest lies to turn against him, and strike him down at the height of his triumph."

He paused before continuing, giving her time to take in his words.

"But this man was a liar. And it turned out everything I thought I knew about him was a lie, even what I thought were lies. Even when he was telling the truth."

Her voice interjected, soft and quiet.

"What do you mean, Xingke?"

He smiled a rueful smile before answering.

"I thought this man was utterly ruthless. I thought he didn't care what he sacrificed to achieve his goals. I thought he viewed me as merely a piece, to be moved according to his whims. These things were all true, but at the same time they were merely lies, hiding a deeper truth.

He was ruthless because he had to be, because the more ruthless he was the less people had to die. He had to keep sacrificing everyone and everything because otherwise every sacrifice would have been made in vain. And it's true, to him I was just a piece... a piece to be played so that one day I'd never have to play again."

Xingke paused, unsure how to go on. He didn't quite know what to say, or how to say it; a man who still doesn't quite understand what's going on. The moment stretched out, and somewhere deep inside nodded with approval at how regal his Empress looked, waiting patiently for him to continue.

"And now I hold his life in my hand... and I'm not sure what to do. My heart tells me that, despite what he has done, he must face judgement. No, perhaps _because_ of what he has done, justice cannot be denied. Not even for him.

And yet, equally it tells me to let him live. It tells me that there is no punishment I can give him that he has not given himself. It tells me that he is a man thrice-broken, bent and bowed under the weight of all he has lost, a man in desperate need of the peace he blessed me, blessed the world, with.

I thought I knew once, but now… now I do not.

Justice, or mercy? Which side of the blade do I give him?"

He bowed his head, and waited.

* * *

Zero waited in silence for the Chinese general to return, mostly to disguise the uncertainty he was sure would be in his voice if he spoke. How had Jeremiah come up with that excuse so quickly? It was more than something he'd made up on the spot; his answers had a polished feel, as if he'd been rehearsing them for hours on end. But how could he have practiced answers to a question he shouldn't have expected to have been asked? The only person who could have given him instructions was Lelouch, and they hadn't spoken since Jeremiah was first removed from the cell. Just what was going on here?

The sound of a door opening quieted the sounds of feverish discussion coming across the communications link; ever since Xingke left, the other Black Knights had taken to wondering what his answer was going to be, what decision he would reach, as well as what they thought should be really done with Lelouch. From what he'd heard, Kaguya seemed to be in favour of Lelouch's idea, as he'd predicted, whilst most of the others seemed against it on general principles, even though by now they could all see how it was truly the only way.

However, Zero knew Xingke's would be the deciding vote – if he supported Zero, his backing, plus that of Todoh's and Kaguya's would be impossible to stand against, since not only would they have the weight of logic on their side, but also the influence of four of the five highest-ranking members of the Black Knights, if one could count Kallen, and the Chairwoman of the UFN. How could they? There wouldn't be many _nations_ in the world that would go against that bloc, even Britannia, not any more.

Of course, if Xingke decided against it…

Before Zero could finish his thought, Xingke, the man he'd just been thinking about, began to speak the words that might just change the world forever, in response to a question from Ohgi.

"What is my answer, Kaname Ohgi?"

Zero heard the slithering rasp of steel matched by the gasps of the Black Knights, and guessed Xingke must have drawn his sword. Before he could so much as speak, he heard the thunk of a blade biting into wood. Had Zero been there, he would have seen the general's blade impaled a foot into the table, testament to the physical power he possessed.

"That is my answer."

Stunned silence was the only thing the masked man could hear; it seemed he wasn't the only one who had no idea what the Chinese warrior meant. It stretched out longer and longer, and it seemed Xingke didn't care to explain, but slowly, Zero came to understand, and he smiled, just as the general started speaking once more.

"A sword is a weapon of war; a weapon designed to slay your enemy. You can defend with one, but in the end you will have to fight back, for a sword is not a weapon to protect life, not truly. In the end, a man with a sword has the potential to kill, to take a life, even to protect another. To take a life in order to save one, what some would call the divine equilibrium. No matter who he is, eventually, a man with a sword will fight, and he will kill.

The Black Knights were swords, once. You, and later I as well, fought as the blades of those who could never fight, as knights for justice, and what is a knight if not a man with a sword? We took lives in order to save them - we were the chosen ones, chosen by Zero to sacrifice our blood for the honour of those who could not.

But that war is over. We slayed the beast, and brought an end. Peace has replaced war, and so I ask you... what use are swords anymore? To fight to protect the peace, perhaps, but does that not defeat the purpose of peace? We cannot be swords any longer, for swords have no place in peace.

But a knight is not only a man with a sword. A knight always has a shield, to defend himself and those who cannot defend themselves. Much like a sword, but a shield cannot be used to take a life, only to protect it. And that it what we must become; the watchers on the wall, the shields that guard the realms of men. The shields that can do everything a sword cannot.

For a shield protects _all_ life, not only that of the defender... but that of the attacker, as well.

And that, Kaname Ohgi, is my answer."

Zero could tell some of the other Black Knights were confused, simply from the silence, and he wasn't surprised; for those born in strife and struggle, for those who'd fought for so many years and for too many battles, the reality of peace would take time to accept. He himself would have been in their same position, had it not been for Lelouch - he had taught him the truth that is inherent in the heart of peace: that true peace comes not from the absence of war, but when those who once waged war with all their might turn that same ferocity onto the defence of peace.

He knew that truth might not make sense to all, but the man who had become the new Zero was at heart a soldier, and try as he might, all he knew was how to fight. The only difference was now he knew what to fight _for_. Oh, he might have claimed before he knew why he was fighting, but even he could see he'd lost his way. But now? Now he had found it, and so he understood. But it seemed others did not.

"Huh? What does he mean?" Tamaki asked in tones of vague confusion.

Zero could hear Todoh sigh, but before either of them could respond, Kaguya answered him.

"He means that we're not here to fight any more. The war is truly, finally over, and that is what we must understand. And because it is a time of peace, we must act in peace, for peace, rather than act as we would in war. Which means that regardless of what we think he deserves, or what he would have done in our position, or anything like that, we must deal with Lelouch vi Britannia peacefully."

"Peacefully? You mean let him go or something?" Ohgi spluttered, his previously calm facade dropping as what he thought Kaguya was saying sunk in.

"After all he's done?"

Zero nearly laughed at that. _If only you knew, Kaguya. If only you knew._

"Peace is not merely the absence of violence - it is the absence of the _fear _of violence. The absence of hostility. This is what Master Zero has granted us, and we do not deserve to be part of the Black Knights, or the UFN, if we cannot accept it. We cannot treat the former Emperor any different to any other man.

Master Zero has tried executing him for his crimes, and it has failed. Clearly it would be pointless to try again. General Todoh has already explained to us the futility of trying to keep him locked up forever, and considering what Lelouch did to the world _without_ having been tortured for years on end...

We must follow the only course of action we have left, no matter our personal feelings on the subject. The world must come before anything else. Either we redeem the irredeemable, or we have failed in our duty, and we cannot allow that to happen.

If we cannot defend one man from himself, how can we defend the world?"

The rest of the Black Knights muttered amongst themselves, but they were quiet, sullen discussions – the kind of discussions men and women have when they're being forced into something they don't like. Zero did not hear Xingke speak after he told Kaguya her words were "Well said.", and Kaguya equally remained silent. It seemed they, like he and Todoh, were waiting patiently for everyone else to finally come around to their point of view. It took a while, but they did.

"I guess we don't really have any other choice, do we?" Ohgi asked quietly.

"No, we don't." responded Todoh.

"We can't let him go unpunished! No way!" shouted Tamaki.

"In a way, we are punishing him. Lelouch always liked to be in control, didn't he? That's what his Geass gives him – control. That's what Zero gave him – control. That's what Lelouch vi Britannia gave him – control. And now, from ruling the entire world, controlling everything and everyone, he controls nothing. He's still a prisoner, regardless of how easy or hard we make it for him. And he knows full well that, if we wanted to, we could take Kallen away and never let him see her ever again."

"We couldn't do that, General Todoh! True love must be allowed to blossom!" Kaguya cried. Zero smiled as she spoke – it seemed some things never changed. He flicked a switch on the outside of his mask, dampening the sound inside so he could 'speak to the Black Knights without Jeremiah hearing' - although Zero knew very well that Jeremiah could hear him anyway, and it didn't matter, the other Black Knights did not, and so the illusion must be maintained.

"We know that, Lady Kaguya. Not only would it go against the principles of peace, as you so accurately described to us earlier, but I suspect if we tried we'd find out what it's really like to fight Kallen Kozuki in battle."

"No way! Kallen wouldn't do that, would she?" Tamaki almost shouted; luckily, the privacy measures Zero had previously engaged extended to keeping both ends of the communication secret, not just Zero's.

"I really don't think we want to find out. But Lelouch doesn't know that – a man like him would think we're holding that threat above his head, just like what he did to the world with the Damocles. And that gives us another measure of control, the very same control he's so used to having. Therein lies his punishment, Tamaki." Zero responded with an air of finality, before switching back to a more open channel.

Then the door burst open, this time in the Black Knight's headquarters.

* * *

She watches them, watches them as their expressions morph into one of collective shock. Even the Japanese general and the imposter knight, although she cannot truly see his face. It amuses her – for all their talk of control, even if she knows it was just a continuation of the act, it seems they do not possess control over themselves. To the rest, it must seem like some form of revenge, something her warlock would do. To those two, it must seem entirely more sinister, for they know that was not what he had planned.

She's not surprised, of course. She expected someone to take advantage of his legacy; and of course, not everyone would have simply laid down their arms once war was ended. The witch wonders if any of them know who's behind it – she does, but it's not information she'd reveal, not to them. She'd tell him, if he ever asked, but she doubts they'll get a chance to meet, not for a long time. She wonders what his reaction would be, if he ever found out. The thought brings an unconscious smile to her face – it's not often anyone truly surprised her warlock, but she suspected that this truth would.

The witch watches them, watching and waiting with the patience of centuries. She wonders if who they're up against will simply destroy them on the spot, or whether they'll simply be toyed with this time, shown how weak they truly are. For some reason, she suspects it'll be the latter. Their opponent is the sort of person who'd do that. They reminded her of Lelouch.

* * *

In the skies of Tokyo, hovering like a long-forgotten giant finally awoken from its slumber, the Knightmare waited. It was perfectly silent, like the calm before the storm. It had no wings; angels and demons might require them to fly, but a god did not, and that was what it was – a god amongst men. Just like its pilot, or more importantly, its master, for they were not one and the same.

But now, its pilot decided it was time for the show to begin, to usher in the next act; after all, all the world's a stage. And so a voice reverberated outwards, harsh and mechanical.

"Hear me, Black Knights. Hear me, false Zero. You, all of you, are nothing more than traitorous betrayers, scum fit for nothing more than to be crushed under the foot of the rightful ruler of all humanity, Lelouch vi Britannia. And you dared to murder him? Murder your true and lawful Emperor? The only ones who should kill are those prepared to be killed, your oh so mighty leader once said. So tell me...

Are you? Are you prepared to face the punishment for your sins?"

With that, two of the Knightmare's arms whipped blades from the sheaths on its back, drawing blades that burned crimson in the fading sunlight, crimson like the eyes of a demon. The reflected light rippled across the Knightmare's gunmetal grey body, pooling on it like the blood of a defeated enemy. The third arm drew a menacing rifle, one that matched the colour of the floating god's body, while the fourth merely flexed the viciously sharp claws on its hand - it seemed to be already crushing those foolish enough to challenge it, before the battle had even begun. As the razors closed and snapped open again, the hand began to pulse with a ruddy light; it was as if the power that glowed within was fighting to escape, begging for the destructive release that would herald oblivion.

Its eyes sucked in the light, pitch-black wells of darkness that stared ever-outwards like the abyss as it spoke once more.

"For I am here, and I am judgement!"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Many, many thanks to theAsh0 for beta-reading this chapter on such short notice, and an equal round of thanks to dw77 for his invaluable services as the Continuity Cop.

Fifty favourites in five chapters make for a happy Magery. Wonder if that number will increase after this one. I hope so. Oh, and nearly a hundred follows. Here's hoping for more =D

The song for this chapter is obviously Hero by Skillet - I suggest you all go and listen to it, and I think you'll easily see why it matches this chapter.

Anyway, I apologize for such a long, long wait, right after I posted the last chapter I had to start doing quite a lot of schoolwork, culminating with my end-of-year/end-of-schooling exams. However, now they're all finished and I'm only a few days off graduating from Year 12 and entering the, well, real world. Obviously the biggest plus side of that is that I now have three months off in which I can write and so on, so I'll attempt to make up for the two or three chapters that would have come out had I not been doing so much work. Plus a whole lot more, of course.

Now on to the chapter itself! Firstly, yes, I am aware you can kill people with a shield. But nobody said I had to let reality get in the way of philosophy, did they?

Secondly, while I do detest using Author's Notes to explain myself (since you can't do that in actual novels and so on), as this is my first fanfiction, nobody knows me or my writing/plotting style well enough for me to just ignore it without turning people away from reading on.

So thus, I think I'll make a few things clear about the 'sudden' appearance of this new Knightmare: it could have been built in canon, whoever built it exists in canon, it is piloted by a canon character, and they were still alive at the end of R2 (people have asked me if it was Bismarck, or Marianne, so I thought I'd make that much clear now to avoid confusion). It is also not the main antagonist, and is the only non-canon Knightmare you will be seeing.

Oh, and one last thing for next chapter… in my opinion, Kallen is the best KMF devicer in Code Geass, followed by Suzaku then Marianne. It'll become clear why I'm saying in time, don't worry =P

Anyway, feel free to review (I like reviews, I'll admit that now, which reminds me, thanks to all the people who reviewed last chapter =D), and I'm looking forward to seeing if anyone will figure out anything that hasn't been revealed yet =D

Until next time,

Magery


	7. Wild at Heart

**People say the good things in life are free...**

**Clearly they've never tried to own Code Geass before.**

* * *

I've decided to, at least this once, respond to the reviews I've been getting; I've never done this before, so bear with me =P I apologize if my responses are too long and get in the way of your reading - if you didn't post a review before I got this chapter out, feel free to skip this bit =P

**Durecel:** Thanks for the advice; I've tried to actually fix that in this chapter so here's hoping I've remembered to do it everywhere. As for your supposition about Sayoko, well, all I can really say is that's certainly a valid guess given the information I've provided to you thus far (I would love to confirm whether you're right or wrong, but sadly that would be a very important plot spoiler. Sorry about that =P). And thanks for the praise, hopefully this coming chapter is as good as you say the others were =D

**Guest (mmhmm): **Well, you will find out who the pilot is eventually, so hopefully you want to know by then =P As for which one out of Kallen and Suzaku is better, well, my personal opinion is Kallen like I said, but I can easily see how Suzaku can be considered the better one as well. Objectively, they're equal, since not only are they written to be the opposing 'greatest warriors' for either side and always be tied in combat, but also whilst Kallen had a more advanced Knightmare than the Albion, Suzaku had his 'Live' Geass and so on. I do have my reasons for considering Kallen better, but they're not all that strong and mainly come from a bias towards her because she's awesome =D

**Pojko:** After reading your first few sentences, I feel really happy about with myself =D Anyways, with parentheses, if I haven't been getting them right thus far, well, I'll definitely have to try and work on that (or not use them, of course). Showing is always more important than telling, like you said =D As for Kallen and Lelouch, hopefully they're not going to turn out quite like that. However, I think Breath of Life picks up much earlier than the 'epilogue' of the anime - personally I think there's at least a few months of time-skip between Lelouch dying and us coming back to Kallen, since Ohgi seems to have been elected Prime Minister and Nunnally has been inducted as the Empress or something, which would take some time. Thus, I think Kallen has had some time to get over his death, as opposed to seeing him just a few days after he's died. That said, I do love the way Kallen and Lelouch interact normally and that's what I intend them to reach: that sort of relationship, except with the tension finally resolved. Hooray for Kalulu! And the only thing I'm offended about is how you think a polite constructive review could offend me! =P

**Myvampirepuppy:** Thank you very much - my update schedule should be returning to some form of regularity (at least one chapter every two weeks, but hopefully faster than that. I just don't exactly know what I'll be doing in the few months before I start university for the first time, but hopefully it'll be writing).

**Monkeymaka:** You're the second person who've said something about my dialogue being hard to follow - I have definitely tried to fix it in this chapter (I'm not a hundred percent sure what the issue is myself, but it's obvious it needs to be fixed so I've tried to have less sections where dialogue is attributed to another person in the next paragraph and so on =P). And thanks for the praise, I'll try to keep it up =D

**overdmacgregor: **Yes, they most certainly are *evil author grin* Well, with the mooshy stuff, this is at least partly a romance story so there's going to have to be some of that, but don't worry, plenty more drama is coming. In the words of whose name I can't quite recall, you ain't seen nothing yet. And thanks for the review =D

* * *

The door closed behind Lelouch as he walked out hand in hand with Kallen, a wry smile on his face. It seemed she was taking a slightly different definition of escort than would make sense in a prison. Not that he minded, of course; he just thought they might have a little difficulty finding a ballroom to dance in. Kallen led him down the hall, towards the rather imposing door that lay at the end - it reminded him of the Mordred's chestplate. It clicked open as they approached, and the man who was presumably the warden stepped out, flanked by two guards. Each wore a full-face helmet, standard anti-Geass protection that served the dual purpose of rendering their expressions inscrutable as well as hiding their faces; if Lelouch could see their eyes, he suspected they'd be glaring at him.

"Lady Kozuki, I assume you're 'escorting' the prisoner to his new cell?" Lelouch ignored the slight edge in the warden's tone, but it seemed Kallen had other ideas. She dropped Lelouch's hand and walked towards the man, stopping a little closer to him than could be comfortable.

"Yes, Warden, I am 'escorting' the prisoner. Perhaps you'd like to show me where his cell is, if that's not too much trouble for you?" Her tone was as bitingly cold as the flames in her eyes were hot, and wisely the warden decided not to pursue the issue, not even slightly, as he responded in a tone of brisk efficiency.

"Of course, my Lady. This way."

Kallen turned around as the warden passed, collecting Lelouch's hand as she followed the man back down the hall. His two escorts did not move; rather, they remained in the same spot, hands fingering their weaponry a little too obviously for it to be subconscious.

He stopped before a cell two down from the one they'd exited, and then spoke a few words into his helmet. They must have been instructions as to which door to release, as the gigantic metal slab slid open, to reveal a cell identical to the one he and Kallen had just left. As the two walked inside, Kallen spoke back over her shoulder to the warden.

"Do you have any chairs? I don't particularly want to have to stand up constantly." she asked politely; or at least, Lelouch got the impression she was trying to be polite. It amused him no end to see her reign in her temper, especially when her attempts were so obviously attempts. It was just another one of the things he loved about her, he realized. It took Lelouch a surprising amount of effort to hide his smile.

"We do in fact, my lady. The former Earl Maldini liked to be comfortable when he interrogated prisoners. How many do you require?"

As she turned around to face the man, Kallen seemed to blush slightly before replying, and Lelouch wondered why.

"Just one."

Now it was Lelouch's turn to blush as he realized the implications, but he quickly controlled himself. The Demon Emperor did not blush, not even if he was in love. Such a thing would be too... too human. Happily, the warden didn't seem to notice (albeit his face was hidden behind a mask, so Lelouch couldn't tell what he thinking anyway), and instead turned spoke into his helmet again. The chair arrived a short time later, and Kallen directed the two prison guards who brought it in to place it towards the back of the room. They obeyed and left as quickly as they came - Lelouch suspected they didn't want to be in the same room as him for longer than absolutely necessary.

"Will that be all, Lady Kozuki?" the warden asked.

"Just one more thing - all surveillance and recording systems in this cell are to be turned off."

Even through the helmet's imposing visor, Lelouch could practically see the scandalized expression on the warden's face. However, before he could speak up, Kallen spoke again.

"Zero gave Lelouch over to _me _to escort, Warden, and as such I have full authority over what happens to him... which includes his cell. But if you're worried about him escaping, don't be - I'm not going to be letting him get away again, not this time."

Lelouch didn't miss the glance Kallen threw at him after she finished - it was filled with both the fire of love and what looked to be a warning.

The warden, recognizing defeat, saluted a bit too efficiently such that it was almost mocking before turning around and exiting the cell, closing the door behind him. As it slammed shut, Kallen turned to face Lelouch and smiled almost shyly before speaking.

"So, we're finally alone together."

"Is that an invitation, Ms Kozuki?" Lelouch replied - he didn't quite know why he'd responded like that, but he thought it might have been because of how familiar Kallen was, or because when she was around he could finally relax and just be Lelouch, rather than Lelouch Lamperouge or Lelouch vi Britannia or Zero or whoever else he'd pretended to be over the years. Being with Kallen was like... it was almost like being home, except without the painful memories he associated with every place he'd ever called home. He was wrest from his musing by a half-anguished, half-annoyed word, a word he'd heard so often he knew it as well as his own name. Which was rather fitting, considering it was.

"Le-louch!"

He grinned, a true smile, not the wolf-like bared teeth he'd given the Black Knights earlier, for he was smiling for Kallen, not for them. Despite her tone, and look of mock indignation, she was smiling as well, and in that moment he realized something, something he'd previously thought was only true in the soppy romance novels he'd seen girls back at Ashford reading - he'd do anything just to make her smile. No, it was more than that, a realization far beyond that. Lelouch vi Britannia, the masked man of miracles turned tyrannical overlord of all humanity had fallen head over heels in love with a woman. He truly was in love with Kallen, a love deeper and more mature than his for Euphie, than what he'd thought maybe he felt for C.C., and in another league entirely to the love he felt for Nunnally. The prospect enthralled him and frightened him in equal measure - much like Kallen herself, he thought to himself.

He closed the distance between the two of them, drawing her into the tightest embrace he could as he whispered a name, followed by perhaps the only true words he'd ever said.

* * *

As he spoke her name, Kallen relaxed into Lelouch's arms, only to tense abruptly as he spoke the three words she'd always wanted to hear him say. He loved her? He loved _her_? After all she'd done—after all she'd done to him—he loved her? She didn't start to cry, no, she was a stronger woman than that. The damp bead sliding wetly down her cheek was not a tear. The quavering voice, thick with emotion as it asked him a question belonged to some other woman, not her.

"You… you love me?"

"More than… than C.C. loves pizza." The reply was slow, almost as if Lelouch was trying to say more than just "Yes.", but didn't know how to phrase it. Kallen couldn't help herself; she started giggling, and a few moments later Lelouch started to chuckle as well, as he recognized the sheer absurdity of what he'd just said.

"Oh Lelouch, you really are clueless when it comes to romance, aren't you?" she managed to get out eventually. He silenced the rest of her laughter with a kiss.

"Okay, maybe that wasn't quite accurate." she responded breathlessly, somewhat later. She could feel his smile against her lips, and her skin tinged pink as he gave her one last long, lingering kiss before breaking away. It was only then she noticed the same flush on his cheeks to mirror hers; the unconscious smile on Kallen's face widened slightly at the sight of him, of the mighty Zero blushing like the schoolboy he'd been in another life.

A few moments later, she remembered there was a chair in the room and gathered his hand in hers as she led him over. If she'd been able to see his expression, she would have seen bemusement mixed with something so alien she probably wouldn't have recognized it at first – peace. They reached the chair together, and Kallen gestured for him to sit down as yet another blush danced like fire across her cheeks at the thought of what she was about to do. He sat down, for some reason not looking directly at her, although she thought under the shroud of hair that obscured her observation of him that his cheeks looked somewhat flushed as well.

Before she could change her mind, she settled herself in his lap, leaning back into his chest as she finished draping herself over him. His arms wrapped around her, holding her so tight it was almost uncomfortable. Almost. Kallen sighed contentedly; she sunk into his embrace as one of his hands slowly stroked the side of her face, tracing her jawline as if in an attempt to memorize it. To memorize her.

She brought her own hand up, holding his hand in place on her cheek as her fingers intertwined with his. She couldn't see him smile, but his voice, a warm whisper in her ear, still sent a shiver down her spine.

"This seems familiar."

She laughed a soft laugh, a laugh for him and nobody else; even if there wasn't anyone else in the room, or anyone else watching, it was still only for him. It was only then she realized it was only the second time she'd laughed since he'd died, and he'd been responsible for each one. But it was a bittersweet realization, because thinking about his death, even despite his survival, was still hard. Because to think of his death was to remember the Demon Emperor, and the Demon Emperor brought back her memories of the past few months, memories she'd rather forget forever. But she didn't know how she could ever forget, until she remembered something her mother, her real mother, had told her the night after Lelouch had died, when the ghostly paleness of his face had danced through each of her dreams, when she'd woken from them screaming his name as the sword plunged into his heart, over and over again.

Her mother had told Kallen that sometimes, there are people you could never forget, people whose actions will haunt your mind forever. She'd said that sometimes you just have to accept what's happened, because in acceptance you can find understanding, and understanding is the road to forgiveness. Kallen hadn't understood what she was being told, but she did now.

She could never forget Lelouch, especially not now that he was alive once more, but more importantly, she could never forget what he'd done. She could never forget Zero, just as she could never forget the Demon Emperor. But she could accept that it had happened, and now was nothing more than what she was trying to forget – a memory. And if she could accept that, with his help maybe she could understand why he'd done it all, and in that understanding, perhaps she could forgive him for leaving her, but more importantly, perhaps she could forgive _herself_.

So she asked him the question that had been roiling in her mind since the sword had first taken her king off the board of his own design.

"Why?"

"Hmm?" he half-murmured, almost sleepily.

"Why did you do it all, Lelouch?"

He stiffened slightly, and his answer was almost, but not quite, resigned, as if he already knew the reply he'd get.

"Do you really want to know why, Kallen? From beginning to end?"

She nodded, and latched onto both his arms where they wrapped around her waist, trying to tell him that she loved him, and always would, regardless of what he told her. Maybe once before she would have been more fickle, but what did the past have that could compare with losing him again?

And so he began to speak, taking her back to memories of his childhood, to tales of sweet Euphemia and sweeter Nunnally; as he talked, his voice was a mixture of sadness and joy, especially about Euphemia. Kallen still had conflicting thoughts about the Massacre Princess – she didn't seem like the sort of person to do what she did, and yet she had. Perhaps she should ask him about it later on.

The continuation of Lelouch's story took her to a time of peace, broken by a hail of bullets, crippled legs and closed eyes. To a time of confrontation, and banishment, and a vow made by a child who was no longer a child, a spoken vow to destroy Britannia, and an unspoken vow to create his sister's perfect world. A few tears trickled down Kallen's cheeks; she'd never heard a tale more tragic, not even from some of the oldest members of the revolution. He must have noticed, somehow, because he stopped talking and waited until she'd recovered before starting to speak again.

"But that's not really what you were asking me about, was it Kallen?" he asked softly.

"No… No, not really." she answered. Because it wasn't; what she really wanted to know was why he'd become the Demon Emperor. Why he'd used Suzaku Kururugi, out of all the people in the world. Why he'd… why he'd almost _left her behind_.

"Only those who are prepared to be killed should kill, and I have killed so many who did not deserve to die that even my own death, as fruitless as trying to die seems to be, was nothing but poor recompense.

I killed Shirley's father; he was crushed in the landslide at Narita – something I should have included in my calculations, but in my arrogance I merely focused on the results. And through his death, I led Shirley down the path that would bring about her death as well. I thought I had control of Rolo, but I did not, but I cannot blame him for what happened. He was what he was, a killer, and that's all he'd ever known how to be. It was my fault; of all my sins, those two almost weigh the most heavily on my soul. Almost.

For I have done much worse than just kill innocents – I have killed _innocence_. Euphemia li Britannia was not a murderer; she did not order that genocide. I did."

Kallen stiffened, before turning around to face him, staring into his eyes. They stared back, and she could see the pain, the hatred he centred on himself. She could see the anguish in them, and somehow she knew he wasn't telling the full story.

"I've been meaning to ask you this question for a while – what really happened that day, Lelouch?"

"Everything was going perfectly; Euphemia had convinced me that her way was right, something no other person in the world has ever managed to do, but then she asked me how I had been planning to make her shoot me, which had originally been my plan. So I started trying to tell her about my Geass without naming it, using ludicrous examples of what I could make her do."

Kallen's eyes widened as she made the connection, and hesitantly asked him another question.

"You… you didn't, did you?"

"Yes, I did. I told her I could order her to kill all the Japanese. C.C. had warned me about Geass Runaway, that there would be a time when it became permanently active – of all the days for that to happen, it had to be that one, didn't it? And so, I accidently looked her in the eye as I spoke."

His voice started to break as he spoke, and she could see the raw emotion in his eyes.

"You should have seen her Kallen; she fought and fought and _fought_ the command, fought it with everything she had. All I could do was watch while slowly, so very slowly, my curse destroyed my sister's soul. It took almost a minute to finally bend her to my 'will'.

Jeremiah wasn't around back then – I only knew two ways to remove my Geass from someone. They either had to complete the order… or they had to die. And so, after taking her mind, her soul, her innocence, I had to take her life as well, and then use everything she did to my advantage, so her sacrifice would not be in vain.

To this day, that remains one of the hardest things I have ever done. But thanks to the Demon Emperor, nobody remembers the Massacre Princess anymore; my blood wiped the memory of hers away.

There isn't any redemption for me, Kallen, no matter how much I might try. But you want to know about the Knight of Zero, don't you? Why I chose him over anyone else, over you?

Suzaku is much the same as me – after how he's sinned, being Zero is merely his own curse. His Geass, if you will. Neither of us could live in the world we were trying to create, not as ourselves. Suzaku Kururugi was a man born for war, and so was I. We couldn't exist in a world of peace, and so both of us had to die. Only one of us was ever meant to be reborn."

Slowly, ever so slowly, Kallen began to understand. Every other avenue available to him had been exhausted; if he wanted to bring about his sisters' dreams, to make every sacrifice worthwhile, he had to become a demon, to become the white king whilst still playing for black. Who better for him to work with than the White Demon of Britannia? She realized then why he'd used C.C. as well, for witches and demons go hand in hand. And now she fully understood why he hadn't used her – when there was no escape for a king, what use was it to sacrifice a queen as well?

And so she hugged him, held his arms tight around her as she lay in his embrace, her body moulding into his like it belonged there. She could tell from his next words that it wasn't the reaction he expected.

"I thought you'd be angry at me."

"I was so angry when you died. Angry at you, angry at the world, angry at everything. But there's only one thing you deserve, Lelouch vi Britannia…"

"And that is?" His voice sounded slightly nervous, and she couldn't help but smile as she answered.

"My love." She said, and kissed him, unaware of the storm to come.

* * *

She watches them, watches as the knights rushed towards their steeds, led by the twice-blessed, fate-cursed general. She'd say she wished them luck, but that would be a lie; not that it would matter, anyway. Not against what they were going to fight – knights might slay a dragon, but they could never kill a god. But they didn't know that, and she smiled at their ignorance. They would learn, soon enough, and so she waited for the carnage to begin. If nothing else, the show would be entertaining, and perhaps afterwards they'd understand what they had to defeat to keep their precious peace.

Of course, it was his peace they had to keep; she wondered what they'd think, or at least what those who did not already know would think if they knew the truth. Her imaginings curved her lips up in amusement, in that enigmatic smile that annoyed him so easily. But they could never really know the truth, for that would spoil his plan; for someone who was supposed to be dead, even if he wasn't, he still managed to spoil her fun. Not that it mattered, really, she was going to have enough fun very shortly – it seemed the battle was about to start.

She returned her attention to watching the knights as they soared through the skies towards their opponent; she could see one of its arms move slowly, like a fighter drawing back his fist for a punch. Like the drawing back of the seas heralding the tsunami to come.

* * *

Xingke could only watch in complete and utter disbelief as Knightmares tumbled to the ground around him; he'd been delayed by a fit of coughing as he tried to board his Shen-Hu, and as ironic as it sounded, the disease that would one day kill him had saved his life instead. Thanks to his lateness, his Knightmare hadn't even been active when the blast had hit, and that was the only reason it was still functioning.

_What just happened shouldn't even be possible!_ he thought as he, the sole line of defence Tokyo had left, slowly rose through the skies to meet this, this… demon in battle. Perhaps the only positive of what he'd seen was that his army had been crippled before they'd managed to get too far off the ground – each and every pilot should have survived, even if they'd probably all had to eject.

For some reason, the Knightmare wasn't attacking him; perhaps it was giving him time to reflect on what he'd just seen, out of some form of psychological warfare. And reflect he did – how could he not? Fifty-odd Knightmares, some of their pilots approaching official Ace classification, crippled in one shot from one Knightmare?

He remembered the strange sense of foreboding that trembled up and down his spine when that claw, the claw that looked so much like the Guren's, had drawn back, glowing with power, like it was charging an attack – in retrospect, that was probably exactly what it _was_ doing. And then the storm had hit, the extraordinary wave of power that rippled out from the gauntlet like a tsunami.

He'd heard of Kallen Kozuki doing something similar before, using her Radiant Wave Surger in a wide-beam mode to defeat two Knights of the Rounds' Knightmares in one attack, but what he'd just seen? That was something _else_. The power generation required for that sort of attack should be beyond a lone Knightmare, and yet it had happened. Xingke didn't understand how, and it frightened him… and there were few things in the world that had managed to frighten the Chinese general.

It was only then he noticed that someone else had launched late enough to avoid the crippling assault – it was the Knightmare he recognized as belonging to Tamaki. Of course, he suspected Tamaki had a different, and perhaps not quite as valid, reason for arriving late than he did. Being Tamaki, his Knightmare tore through the air towards the other one without regard to strategy or tactics, but it seemed the other Knightmare hadn't noticed him yet, because it still hadn't turned around.

Tamaki opened fire, almost at point-blank range, but his bullets hit a shield that wasn't there before – it was like a Radiant Wave shield, only appearing on contact with enemy fire, except it was tinged with green, like a Blaze Luminous. Whatever it was, it was effective, because Tamaki's bullets deflected in every direction as he dashed closer, with his missiles exploding harmlessly as they encountered the defensive wall.

The general realized he should probably be joining in and, deciding to test the monster's defensive capabilities, began charging his Shen Hu's Baryon Cannon to full power, the same level he'd used to shatter the Blaze Luminous on Lelouch's Britannian flagship. Tamaki screamed in closer, yelling Japanese war-cries, and suddenly the demon spun in the air, its clawed hand lunging out to grab his Akatsuki's head, stopping it in its tracks. And then it spoke.

"Tag. You're dead."

Tamaki ejected instantly, just as the Knightmare's hand started to glow again and power coursed through it, melting the Akatsuki completely. Parts of it dripped out of the Knightmare's hands as it unclenched its claw, dropping the slag to the ground below. Xingke's eyes widened; it seemed to be just like the Guren's weapon, only exponentially more powerful. _However, you're not the only one with heavy firepower_, he thought as he triggered the Baryon cannon… only to see the impossible happen once more.

The beam roared through the air, burning like a solar flare; it met the shield, and for a moment the general thought he'd succeeded, as an explosion tore through the air around him. But as he manoeuvred the Shen Hu backwards through the air to avoid it, the smoke slowly cleared to reveal his opponent completely unscathed, almost mockingly pointing a rifle at him. It fired, and as Xingke dived through the air, the bullet, for it was a single bullet, clipped his right arm, utterly destroying it with one shot.

Three shots later, the Shen Hu was missing both its legs and the other arm – somehow, the pilot seemed to know where Xingke was going to go before he went there; or at least, it appeared that way to him. Beyond that, it didn't seem to recognize the existence of his shielding, or even his spinning slash harken defence - the bullets simply tore through both of them. It was like fighting an angry god; omniscient, omnipotent and out for blood. And then the god began to speak, booming tones echoing out through Tokyo; its voice reminded him eerily of Zero.

"This is all you have? This is your mighty army, the shield to protect a traitor's peace? Pathetic. You're not even worth wasting another shot on."

It dived towards him, even as he tried to escape, for all he had left was his float system, swooping down like an eagle pouncing on a fieldmouse; it halted directly behind the Shen Hu, and before he could turn, its gauntlet reached out, latching on to the end of his cockpit block. And then it _pulled_. Xingke slammed into his controls, coughing blood, as the Knightmare ripped it out of the rest of his frame – with the cockpit block removed, the Shen Hu dropped towards the ground below.

The last thing the Chinese general felt before he blacked out was a sensation oddly akin to some of the training he'd done in a centrifuge; he felt like he was spinning, like a leaf in a hurricane. If he'd remained conscious, he would have seen the demonic Knightmare hurl his cockpit block into the top level of the Black Knights headquarters before launching a slash harken towards the wall he was about to hit, shattering it so the Xingke wouldn't be crushed in the impact. It was like it was trying to keep him alive, to send a message that it could have easily killed him but chose not to. The block slid through several walls before skidding to a spot, just outside the door to the room where the Black Knights had discovered Lelouch's survival.

Then the godlike Knightmare simply turned and almost sauntered away, heading straight upwards, like an avenging angel returning to heaven. As it rose, it spoke again, this time somehow on the secure channel from the Black Knights to Zero – he'd been listening in horrified silence, unable to see what was going on and thus unable to do anything more than wait.

"Give my regards to my Emperor, won't you? Not that you'll need to, I'll be seeing him shortly."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

A hearty thank-you to the many people that helped with this chapter, be their contributions great or small - EisKrahe, Topears, dw77 and AlSmash, you've all been invaluable. Thanks for the help!

Also, wow, over a hundred follows and 11,000 views? Considering my initial expectations for this fic, breaking that after only six chapters has exceeded them all! Thanks guys, I appreciate it. I won't lie to you, part of the reason I write is so other people can enjoy my stories, and it seems like some people do. Hooray!

Anyways, the song for this chapter is Wild at Heart by Birds of Tokyo; it fits pretty much any form of battle perfectly, but in this case it fits not only physical battles, but Lelouch's struggle against everything he's done.

Once again (I really shouldn't be making a habit of this), I apologise for the extremely long wait for this chapter. Suffice to say that, initially, my real life (apparently I have one of these) got pretty hectic pretty quickly, and then I had a splitting headache for almost a week. However, there was a week in there in which I could have written, but I kept distracting myself with other things, so the blame rests solely of my shoulders. Thank EisKrahe and Topears for basically forcing me to stop distracting myself and write (it's not that I've lost inspiration or desire, I am just very, very easily distracted).

Now, on to the important stuff... the chapter itself! I'll skip straight to the section most people are probably wondering about - the battle. Yes, I know, my new Knightmare (I really need to reveal its name, it'll make referring to it much easier) seems to be ridiculously powerful, and in some ways that is correct. However, let me remind you that the Black Knights had no idea what they were up against, it attacked before any of them could really retaliate, and even the Shen Hu is only an eight-generation Knightmare. I will reveal in time what generation my Knightmare is, but suffice to say it's more advanced than the Shen Hu by a significant margin.

I'm afraid one of my lines from my last author's note is not quite accurate - you won't find out the reason why I gave you my personal list of the top three KMF pilots in Code Geass until next chapter. Hopefully you're all still interested as to why I said that.

Oh, and one last note - Kallen was not present at the betrayal meeting, when the Black Knights turned on Lelouch, so she wouldn't have known about Euphemia until someone told her about it. And considering how busy they quickly became right after that betrayal, and how long in the past the event was, I doubt she'd have asked anyone about it, so it's safe to assume that she didn't know about it at the end of R2.

That's about it from me, apart from asking you all to review this chapter (please tell me if I wrote the LelouchxKallen interaction well, or not as the case may be, and whether the battle scene was interesting enough. Considering how important some of those scenes will be to the fic, especially later on, I really need to know if I need to pick up my game or not =P), and asking whether or not anyone's opinions on who the mysterious pilot is have changed after this chapter or not. I look forward to hearing who you think it is!

Until next time,

Magery


	8. ON HIATUS

**This isn't the disclaimer you're looking for (nor is it the chapter update, come to think of it). **

* * *

Ladies and gentlemen, it is with some regret that I make the obvious official - Breath of Life is now on hiatus, duration unknown.

This is not to say it will never be finished. I know how it ends. I know what has to happen before it ends. I just haven't been able to write it for a while (chapter eight is sitting at around a thousand words or so, and has been for two months), partly due to Second Chances, partly due to a previous apathy for writing (which has thankfully burned itself right out of me), partly due to a excess of ideas (it is really hard to write one story when you have five flitting around in your head at any one moment) and partly because I just don't have the time.

It turns out that studying law requires a lot more work than even I thought it did, so until this semester ends you will not be seeing anything much from me, save perhaps one-shots, although I suspect any free time I have for writing will be ensuring that I do have something to come back to you with.

I apologize for taunting you with what seemed to be a chapter update, so to speak, but I thought it the lesser of two evils - after all, I know I'd prefer a false chapter update telling me not to expect any for a while than a constant wait wondering if there ever _will_ be an update.

I will be available to contact through this site, by virtue of having my emails open almost constantly, so if anyone does want to contact me, I will be here, and I will more than likely respond surprisingly quickly.

Until next time,

Magery


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